Hong Kong Officials Explore AI Innovations in Shenzhen for Enhanced Government Services and Efficiency.

SCS visits Shenzhen with LegCo Members

The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, led officials from the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) and the Digital Policy Office (DPO) on a duty visit to Shenzhen together with the delegation of the Legislative Council Panel on Public Service today (May 26). They went to learn about the use of AI by relevant local organisations there to assist in handling government administrative work. Government officials joining the visit included the Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Clement Leung, and the Commissioner for Digital Policy, Mr Tony Wong.

They first visited the Government Services and Data Management Bureau of the Shenzhen Municipality in Futian District to learn about the introduction and application of "AI digital employees". They then visited the Shenzhen Government Service Center to learn about the hotline 12345 and its technological application. They also visited the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court and an innovation and technology company to learn how the AI-Enhanced Adjudication Assisting System is used and how AI assists in enhancing legal services respectively.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is committed to promoting the development of a smart city and digital government. With over 100 digital government initiatives being rolled out to promote digital government and the smart city, half of them involve the application of big data analytics and AI technologies. Mrs Yeung said that with the assistance of the DPO, the CSB endeavours to drive the adoption of management measures and digitalisation among bureaux and departments to reprioritise and reorganise their work, capitalise on technological solutions and streamline work processes, thereby not only enhancing work efficiency and providing convenience to the public but also optimising the use of civil service manpower resources.

The departments are actively promoting e-government services and AI, and many of them have successfully developed their own AI systems for data processing, statistics, traffic management and environmental detection, and more. They also use big data to analyse weather data, and the kiosks forself-service applications have been well received by the public.

Apart from the smart solutions developed by departments for their respective professional needs, in terms of common needs within the Government, HKPilot, a large language model version of a generative AI document processing copilot application self-developed by the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center (HKGAI) established under the InnoHK research clusters, is currently being piloted within the Government. It will help reduce the manpower required for handling general document processing tasks in the longer term. The HKGAI will also develop a number of applications for different areas of public affairs, such as the legal-related "LexiHK", to further integrate the application of generative AI into government affairs.

SCS visits Shenzhen with LegCo Members Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

SCS visits Shenzhen with LegCo Members Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

SCS visits Shenzhen with LegCo Members Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

SCS visits Shenzhen with LegCo Members Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Incoming passenger convicted and jailed for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes

An incoming male passenger was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and fined $2,000 by the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts today (December 8) for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs officers, in contravention of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO).

Customs officers intercepted a 31-year-old incoming male passenger at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (December 7). About 13 900 duty-not-paid cigarettes, with an estimated market value of about $62,000 and a duty potential of about $46,000, were seized from his personal baggage. The passenger was subsequently arrested.

Customs welcomes the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences. Customs reminds members of the public that under the DCO, cigarettes are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who imports, deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Incoming passenger convicted and jailed for importing duty-not-paid cigarettes Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases