Budget 2026: HK$50 million for Hongkongers to receive AI training

Hong Kong government will provide HK$50 million to invite public organizations to hold AI training courses for residents. The government will also provide HK$2 billion to improve AI education in primary, secondary schools, and universities, said Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po in the budget plan on Wednesday.

“While AI is advancing at a rapid pace, both students and teachers lack a basic understanding of it and the ability to apply it in practice; fewer than one in ten people have a grasp of it,” said Simon Wang, 48, a lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University computer assisted language learning department.

According to data research by Google, of the 4,446 US employees surveyed, only 40% of them have adopted AI in their work, and 5% are AI fluent.

In the budget, Chan said public universities will launch 27 undergraduate courses that relate to AI.

“HKBU has launched AI and Data Science as a new second major, and the computer science major includes Applied AI as a core course. Computer Science Department holds a supportive attitude to the application of AI in university education,” said Byron Choi Koon Kau, a professor from the Hong Kong Baptist University Computer Science Department.

“Most professors still have a low acceptance of AI. Some assignments that could have been completed better with AI are not allowed to be used. It is necessary to fully implement AI training and education,” Wang said.

In response to the budget plan for AI training, the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers said, "We suggest that the government provide more systematic teachers’ AI training programs and add special subsidies to support all teachers in Hong Kong to take AI courses."

According to Wen Hui Net, at the beginning of this month, the Education Bureau provided over 70,000 systematic AI training opportunities for teachers, covering areas such as AI literacy.