Three years ago, I warned in these pages that the greatest existential threat to humanity might not emerge from a stray asteroid or a cosmic cataclysm but from uncontrolled artificial intelligence (AI). Today, the trajectory towards an AI Armageddon has not merely accelerated, it has violently careered off the rails of human oversight. The academic…
Setting a timer to take a short break after every 25 minutes of study, compiling a “mistakes booklet” to learn from past errors and using artificial intelligence to boost English skills are among the strategies used by top scorers in this year’s university entrance exam in Hong Kong. However, some of the 24 high achievers…
Add ThinkChina as a preferred source Technicians assemble humanoid robots at the Lingyi iTech Guangdong Co. Embodied Intelligence Super Factory facility in Beijing, China, on 29 May 2026. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg) The eminent scientist and sinologist Joseph Needham famously formulated two questions on Chinese science and technology (S&T) in his 1969 book The Great Titration: Science and…
In the world of artificial intelligence, a token is the smallest unit of information processed by an AI model. When a user asks ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, or Doubao a question, the system does not read sentences like a human. It breaks words down to tiny pieces called tokens. These are the building blocks that allow…
Two things happened last week that give us a much clearer picture of what the world is going to be like from now on. First, Iran asserted its control of the Strait of Hormuz by turning back two ships that didn’t take the correct route and second, a Chinese company released an AI model that…
Most of my time as a writer is spent bemoaning the current state of college football or breaking down obscure scenes from “The Sopranos” that no one has thought about for 20 years, but occasionally I like to stray from my lanes and venture into some weird territory. One vertical I have found myself occupying…
Tech giant Google will gradually roll out its generative AI services to all users in Hong Kong starting with the Gemini web app before introducing a mobile version for the chatbot and virtual assistant. The move is expected to eliminate the barriers that previously forced many residents to use virtual private networks (VPNs) or third-party…
Joe*, a 20-year-old Hong Kong student, began seeking emotional support for dating advice, family relationships and stress management a few months ago to ease his anxieties. He asked questions during his commute to school, while studying in the evening and even when he could not sleep late at night. His go-to chatbot: OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which…
Keith Li King-wah’s business once thrived during the 2010s. In a crowded field of more than 100 rivals, his programming consultancy, Innopage, easily secured contracts worth hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars to develop basic digital tools, such as a mortgage calculator, for corporations and government agencies. But those easy-money days are gone. The…
Every few months, another headline announces that artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to “disrupt” the legal profession. Lawyers, we are told, will soon be replaced by algorithms. Judges, apparently, are next, with some recent research suggesting that machines are more “accurate” in following established legal principles than human judges. While disruption will surely come, suggesting…