“Every job that we have is going to be affected.”

In her FCC Club Lunch titled “The Future of Work in an AI-Powered World”, Diana Wu David gave an overview of how generative AI has inevitably changed the workforce across nearly all sectors and what the future of employment may look like. Moderating the discussion was FCC First Vice President Jennifer Jett.

David, a future-of-work strategist and best-selling author, finds that there are two responses that working adults have taken in response to AI’s boom over the past year — one, to deny its rise and refuse to use it, or two, to “play” with AI and see what’s possible.

David’s suggestion: response number two.

“It [AI] helps a lot! If you can think about it, if you’re not really sure what to say, or you’re not really sure what to write, being able to use ChatGPT or some kind of machine learning to prompt you or write it for you is really amazing. You all-of-a-sudden can learn faster and produce faster,” she said.

While she admitted that AI has certainly changed hiring strategies and job openings (citing her own company’s use of AI for marketing materials and presentations), the bigger impact she mentioned was the transformation in how organizations think of value at work. David then cited an MIT study that showed a 14% improvement in low-level performers, as well as faster onboarding periods and a higher focus on the “fun parts” of work over completing mundane, time-consuming tasks.

“What it [AI] is doing is upgrading the ‘normals,’” she said.

In the case of journalism, David elaborated that AI can allow journalists to spend more time diving deep into their reporting and having AI write for them, which could then lead to a shift in media organizations valuing a journalist’s access and ideas over how well they may be able to write in English (or any other language).

“If that [writing well] doesn’t matter because ChatGPT can write in the style of the Financial Times or the Lex column, then who we’re hiring might change. Maybe it doesn’t matter to find the best writer,” she said.

Truly demonstrating her profession as a futurist expert, David also gave her thoughts on what students who aren’t currently working can do now in order to set themselves up for success in a future career alongside AI. She mentioned two qualities, adaptability and lifelong learning, as more important than the overall focus of a student’s degree program.

“The reality is that whatever major you choose is probably not that important. It’s more about how you can continue to learn over time and be adaptable,” she said.

Watch the full talk on our YouTube channel below:

While AI technology isn’t an entirely new concept, headlines regarding its growth and increasing uses have become more frequent in 2023.

Open AI generating over $1 billion in revenue, military applications, ChatGPT being allowed (or banned) at Hong Kong universities, the Hollywood writers’ strikes, and even philosophical debates are all stories that have gotten more people interested in AI over the past year.

In response to the increased interest, the FCC held a Club Breakfast panel on September 4th with two of Hong Kong’s leading AI experts: Jack Lau and Sophiya Chiang, both who are experts in AI development and AI startup investment respectively.

The breakfast panel was moderated by FCC Journalist Board Member Joe Pan.

Lau, CEO of Swanland.AI, began the talk with an overview of AI’s capabilities, particularly with what are its current limitations.

“We have to really understand that although we are fascinated by AI, even as of today, some of the easiest things are completely messed up by AI,” he said.

Lau then explained a theory by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, that proposed that there are two systems of human thinking: System 1, which is based on our habits and experiences; and System 2, which is based on logic and reasoning. 

“There’s no AI currently that I am aware of that does level two well,” he said, which backed his belief that AI should be used as a “co-pilot” with the human workforce.

After Lau’s overview, Chiang shared her analysis on how Hong Kong can continue to embrace the advancing technology at schools and universities — instead of banning or ignoring it.

“I think it’s more about how you use AI in your daily learning and education that’s more important than actually banning it outright, because it’s inevitable,” she said.

Her point was made in specific reference to HKU’s initial ban of ChatGPT-4, which was dropped just last month. Meanwhile, HKUST and other universities in the city have allowed students to use AI in their coursework.

“This technology is advancing whether we like it or not, and so the best way that we can approach it would be to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to teach with AI,” Chiang said.

The panel also discussed AI’s lack of cultural context, Language Learning Models (LLMs), AI regulation, and how Hong Kong can stand out as an AI testing ground.

Watch the full talk on our YouTube channel below:

With Hong Kong’s housing issues consistently making headlines — cage homes, sky-high rent, and long wait times for public housing — the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) assembled a Club Lunch panel to attempt to answer a longstanding question: Is Hong Kong’s housing problem solvable?

The panel, held on August 28, consisted of Legislative Council (LegCo) members Doreen Kong, Andrew Lam, and Dominic Lee, as well as Sze Lai Shan, Deputy Director of the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO). Moderating the panel discussion was FCC First Vice President Jennifer Jett.

When asked about the biggest housing issue that Hong Kong faces, the panel didn’t give a single answer. Instead, they agreed that the variety of problems in the city are all intertwined with one another and must be addressed in a multi-faceted way.  

“I’ve got the feeling that the Hong Kong government does not know how to deal with this complex issue,” said Kong, who has focused a core part of her LegCo career on making more housing affordable for residents.

A part of the complex issue that Kong refers to is the city’s public housing system. Scoring factors such as age, income, family size, and residence/citizenship are what the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) uses to determine who is eligible for public housing.

While the panel agreed that this system isn’t perfect and that there are cases of people abusing public resources, an overhaul of the HKHA’s scoring system still might not be helpful.

“Even if you adjust the [public housing] scoring system, it’s not actually going to help because you’re only moving the distribution from one demographic to another demographic,” said Lee.

Lee also said that while addressing multiple housing issues at once is a good strategy, there still must be some kind of prioritisation of these issues when considering economic feasibility, especially those that involve land reclamation.

Lam, former Executive Director of the Urban Renewal Authority, noted that acquiring land may take longer than planned, but that it is worth the wait.

“I’m all for [land] reclamation. That’s the only place where the government can take full charge,” he said.

Lee disagreed, saying, “Lantau Tomorrow is a ‘vision’… a 20-year project. Most of us are not going to be around in 20 years … they consider that area the third [Central Business District] of Hong Kong. But to be honest, are you going to put your HSBC headquarters in that area? Probably not.”

Lantau Tomorrow Vision is a government project that aims to create artificial islands in the waters near eastern Lantau Island, reclaiming about 1,700 hectares of land, and is expected to cost an estimated HK$624 billion (US$80 billion).

Also concerned with land supply, Sze explained how less land leads to less public housing and the over 220,000 people now living in cage homes – the primary focus of her SoCO work.

She noted that over her career, the number of illegal cage homes has increased and that the overall quality of cage homes hasn’t improved, but that the media’s focus on them overshadows a newer — and perhaps more problematic — type of housing issue: subdivided flats.

“Visually, the cage homes are more sensational … journalists always take photos,” Sze said. “Subdivided [flats] are not so sensational, but they’re still a serious housing problem.”

She listed some of the issues with subdivided flats (despite having better living conditions than cage homes), including increased plumbing and structural issues that can harm entire buildings.

Sze views both the cage homes and subdivided flats as issues that can be solved as long as the government takes an active role in addressing these residents’ needs.

“It depends on ourselves whether we want to help those people that are so poor. They are underprivileged,” she said.

Lee also agreed with Sze’s analysis of the cage homes and subdivided flats, and added that cage homes are a result of poverty, income inequality, and the overall housing shortage, all of which should be included in the city’s efforts to reduce the number of cage homes.

“If we’re facing as a city a huge housing shortage, then no matter how much public housing we have, we’re still going to have these cage homes,” Lee said.

Despite the various issues discussed throughout the panel, as well as the obstacles faced when trying to solve Hong Kong’s housing issues, the panellists agreed that their plans are within their reach.

“I’m optimistic about how it’s heading towards. We have a lot of work to do, but as long as we keep our hopes up, I think we will do just fine,” said Lee.

For Kong, her belief in change lies in the government’s commitment to listening to all members of society and developing clear plans to solve their problems.

“If we really want to solve the housing problems — all sorts of housing problems in Hong Kong — we need to have a very clear, very defined and integrated strategy to deal with all kinds of housing issues and also different needs of different segments of Hong Kong people,” she said.

Watch the full talk on our YouTube channel below: