Hong Kong’s AI city brain may be tested next typhoon season

Hong Kong’s artificial intelligence management system could take shape and be tested as early as the typhoon season next year, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki has said.

The government’s No 2 official said the project would give authorities a “full picture” of the city once it is in full swing.

Connecting government databases

The proposed “AI city brain” system aims to connect independent databases maintained by different government bodies.

In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Chan said the system would bring together information that is currently held across separate government databases.

“With the invention of AI, I think it is a good idea to connect them together, so that we can have a full picture of Hong Kong,” he said.

The data identified for possible integration includes traffic information, flood monitoring and drainage systems.

It also includes landslide warning systems and weather information, as well as public inquiries and complaints made through the 1823 hotline.

Focus on typhoon-season testing

Testing the system during the typhoon season next year would put its proposed links between weather information, flood monitoring, drainage and other government data into use during the period identified for the project’s initial trial.

The system is intended to bring these separate strands of information together rather than leave them in independent databases maintained by different government bodies.

According to Chan, the result would be a fuller picture of Hong Kong for authorities as the artificial intelligence management system moves towards being fully operational.

Source: South China Morning Post