As the storm of the artificial-intelligence revolution spreads throughout the technological world, the healthcare sector in Hong Kong has been driven into the vortex of rapid technological changes in the past 10 years. AI-assisted healthcare allows medical practitioners to solve problems that once were the realm of science fiction. The following discussion is a brief review of the use of AI in healthcare in different countries and the city in the past decade, drawing the public eye closer to the thrive-and-shine story of AI application. Nevertheless, AI is a disruptive technology, and guardrails should be installed to enhance technological governance and ensure that AI-assisted healthcare can navigate the rocks and whirlpools ahead.
When IBM’s AI system, Watson, won the Jeopardy television game show in 2011, we realized that the huge benefits and perceived disruption brought about by AI applications were on the immediate horizon. Watson has since been groomed to do more serious work in healthcare, particularly in diagnosing diseases. An AI system such as Watson has enormous potential advantages over human doctors.
Another attention-grabbing story is the breakthrough made by Elsevier in developing AI tools to provide sophisticated medical solutions for patients. Shortly after the outbreak of the AI revolution, Elsevier, a global multimedia publishing company, gave serious thought to the possibility of using its huge amount of medical data to build AI tools for healthcare purposes. Elsevier succeeded. It has built an advanced clinical decision support platform, which uses natural-language processing and machine learning to suggest the optimal treatment pathways for patients. The platform uses anonymized patient data, including medical histories, treatment histories and outcomes. It also uses a database of 5 million medical insurance claims. Then it throws in all of the articles and research published in its journals over the last 140 years.
The successful stories of some European countries in incorporating the AI model into their healthcare systems should also be brought into the spotlight. For instance, Sweden and Finland are already using AI solutions to help healthcare providers detect cancer at early stages. These applications can also be found in Germany. In the United Kingdom, Imperial College London is using AI to develop a diagnostic tool for tuberculosis.
China is also one of the leaders in incorporating AI models into its healthcare systems. An “AI hospital” model, powered by a large-scale AI system developed at a research institution, is capable of reading medical literature and treating virtual patients. For example, an AI-empowered hospital was opened in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, in late 2023. Another AI medical model developed by a team in Shanghai has successfully passed the national medical licensing examination. As China looks for new solutions to the challenges posed by an aging population and disparities in access to medical resources, more hospitals are incorporating AI technology into their healthcare systems.
In view of the economic benefits brought about by AI technology in our healthcare systems and the unstoppable momentum generated by the AI revolution, our think tank would very strongly take the view that guardrails should be installed to enhance technological governance for the well-being of Hong Kong residents. AI can alleviate human misery, but it may also aggravate human suffering
In the private sector, the large multimodal medical AI model of Ping An Health has not escaped our attention. Backed by Ping An Group’s “integrated finance + health and senior care” dual-engine strategy, Ping An Health’s AI healthcare development has a strong foundation. It is worthy of note that Ping An Health has combined its AI models with DeepSeek. For example, in disease diagnosis, DeepSeek can analyze vast amounts of medical data to assist doctors in making more accurate diagnoses.
In terms of AI-assisted healthcare, Hong Kong is not lagging behind. Because the Hospital Authority (HA) has one of the richest healthcare databases in the world, it can use the data to develop AI models that serve the day-to-day operations of hospitals in the city. The AI team at the HA has already identified around 30 use cases of generative AI in improving work efficiency in the city’s public healthcare setting. On the clinical front, work is underway to harness generative AI to reduce doctors’ administrative burdens.
Local universities also play an important role in improving the use of AI technology in meeting medical needs. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University are at the forefront of medical AI research. For example, the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology of the Medical Faculty of HKU is famous for developing a unified medical system that incorporates databases, parallel computing, data encryption and AI. In addition to having a famous medical AI research team, the Polytechnic University is also well-known for its innovative approach in training nurses. Its nursing school has also incorporated AI in its curriculum.
There is no doubt that AI is set to become one of the biggest economic drivers in the medical technology space over the next few years. But AI is a double-edged sword. In view of the economic benefits brought about by AI technology in our healthcare systems and the unstoppable momentum generated by the AI revolution, our think tank would very strongly take the view that guardrails should be installed to enhance technological governance for the well-being of Hong Kong residents. AI can alleviate human misery, but it may also aggravate human suffering.
Frederick Chu is a dental services senior consultant of the Chinese Dream Think Tank, and was previously the assistant dean and a clinical associate professor in the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong.
Kacee Ting Wong is a barrister, a part-time researcher of Shenzhen University Hong Kong and the Macao Basic Law Research Center, chairman of the Chinese Dream Think Tank, and a district councilor.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
