BEIJING, April 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:
Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries worldwide while widening the digital divide between regions, and Hong Kong is well-positioned to foster greater AI collaboration across the Asia-Pacific and promote more inclusive digital development.
Policymakers and industry leaders made the remarks at the World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit, which opened at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday.
Zhuang Rongwen, director of the Cyberspace Administration of China and chairman of the World Internet Conference, said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region enjoys unique advantages in advancing digital exchange and cooperation, given its role as an international hub for shipping, trade and finance, as well as its position as a gateway connecting China with the world.
"Countries and regions across the Asia-Pacific have made digital transformation a common choice to capture new growth opportunities and sharpen their competitive edge," Zhuang said, adding that the digital economy has become "a bright spot" in regional cooperation.
"China remains committed to sharing opportunities arising from digital development with other nations," he said.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said hosting the event underscores the SAR's growing prominence as an international innovation and technology hub and reinforces its integration into national development plans.
"Hong Kong looks forward to working with partners around the region, and across the world, to help shape a digital future built on openness, innovation and inclusivity," he added.
According to Lee, the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, which opened in December, has attracted more than 70 tenants in sectors including AI and data science.
Covering 0.87 square kilometers in Hong Kong and 3.02 sq km on the Shenzhen side, the cooperation zone is exploring the movement of research materials and other innovation resources across the boundary, he said.
AI is central to Hong Kong's innovation and technology development, Lee said, noting that the city ranked third in the Global AI Competitiveness Index, after New York and London.
But he cautioned that the power of AI must be balanced by its responsible and inclusive use, describing technology as a tool that "could function well only with a spirit of cooperation and creativity".
John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Ltd, echoed the view, emphasizing that "the future of AI won't be decided by one organization, one industry, one region or one person", and that cooperation could help close the digital and economic divide.
He said China, including the Hong Kong SAR, "has a unique position" to play a leadership role, and its experience in innovation can be shared globally.
Describing AI as entering a new frontier marked by the rise of AI agents, Hong Kong Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said the Hong Kong SAR government is closely monitoring the technology's evolution.
Although agents could broaden AI's application across industries, they will also inevitably raise new security concerns, Sun said. "The SAR government's approach toward AI agents is clear — development must go hand in hand with regulation."
Samuel Migal, minister of investments, regional development and informatization of Slovakia, said that in the face of advancements in digital technology and AI, the common challenge is the need to establish new governance frameworks.
While different countries and regions may adopt varying regulatory models, "fragmentation cannot be the outcome", he said.
** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
Hong Kong well-positioned to boost digital cooperation
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New platform known as 'Avatar' aims to give autonomous AI agents verified identity, credentials and digital asset access to enable agentic economy
HONG KONG, April 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Zetrix AI Berhad ("Zetrix AI") and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology ("CAICT") unveiled a new initiative: the blockchain-based trust protocol for artificial intelligence agents, pitching it as critical infrastructure for an emerging "agentic economy" in which AI systems act, transact and communicate on behalf of people and companies.
Launched at the World Internet Conference Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, the platform — Avatar (http://avatar.inc) — allows individuals and enterprises to create agentic AI "digital twins" trained on their personality, preferences, knowledge and communications style. Those agents can then interact with users, other AI agents and online systems to carry out tasks with a verified identity layer and access to credentials or digital assets.
The announcement comes as companies push beyond chatbots toward autonomous systems that can negotiate, coordinate, execute workflows and represent users in digital environments. Avatar enables this by providing a trust protocol to verify who an agent represents, what it is authorised to do, and whether the assets or credentials it uses are real.
Built on a hybrid OpenClaw and pipeline framework and integrated with the Astron and Zetrix blockchains, Avatar is designed to let AI agents access verifiable credentials, including identity, professional qualifications and digital assets. The platform is set to also feature a CAICT-certified security framework and an open agent task store where third-party developers can publish their own specialised agents.
"Blockchain-empowered agentic AI will form the trust foundation for next-generation autonomous digital interactions" said Mr. You Xiao Yu, Vice President of Astron CAICT. "As agents begin acting on behalf of individuals and enterprises, the secure and trustworthy execution becomes non-negotiable."
Avatar is not just another AI assistant, but as infrastructure for a new category of internet activity built on verified machine-led engagement between people, companies and autonomous software agents.
"'Agents that represent their human users and/or companies herald a new wave of agentic tasks that require knowing who you are transacting with and having access to verifiable credentials or digital assets required to complete the task" said Mr. TS Wong, Group Managing Director of Zetrix AI, which developed the Zetrix layer-1 public blockchain.
During the showcase, Mr. CZ Wong, Chief AI Officer of Zetrix AI and architect of Avatar, outlined a future in which agentic AI avatars have the following interaction modes.
For executives and professionals, the company envisions avatars that can onboard employees, answer strategic questions and preserve institutional knowledge beyond the limits of human availability.
For celebrities and public personalities, avatars could handle fan engagement and commercial interactions at scale, allowing thousands of simultaneous personalised exchanges without requiring the individual to be physically present.
For creators and influencers, Zetrix AI sees Avatar as an AI-native monetisation engine, allowing users to package expertise, run paid communities, deliver personalised teaching and extend their commercial reach far beyond real-time human bandwidth.
For companies, the pitch is more disruptive: a shift away from static websites toward autonomous corporate agents that actively seek out prospects, tailor messaging to individual customer profiles and engage in continuous, customised outreach.
For consumers, the platform offers a more personal ambition: creating an enhanced super intelligent extension of themselves trained on his or her own knowledge and preferences, that can assist the user in completing tasks. Zetrix AI says that capability could evolve into a form of verifiable digital legacy, allowing future generations to interact with a persistent, knowledge-rich representation of a person after they are no longer available.
The most far-reaching opportunity, however, may be agent-to-agent interaction, or A2A. In that model, a user's avatar could directly negotiate, collaborate, exchange information and transact with another verified avatar, without immediate human intervention. Zetrix AI says the blockchain would serve as the trust, identity and settlement layer for those machine-to-machine exchanges.
A core part of that strategy is the platform's agent store, where third-party developers can upload specialised agents for use by other participants. Those agents can integrate with user credentials to perform specific functions, while developers can also seek CAICT security certification to improve adoption among enterprises and institutions.
The move highlights a growing effort to merge blockchain-based verification with AI autonomy as concerns mount over impersonation, permissions, hallucinations and the absence of trusted identity rails in open AI ecosystems.
Zetrix AI believes that trusted agent infrastructure could become as important to the next internet era as websites were to the first and mobile apps were to the second. If that thesis holds, Avatar is not just a product launch. It is a bet that the coming AI economy will need a trust layer — and that blockchain will supply it.
About Zetrix AI Berhad
Zetrix AI Berhad ("Zetrix AI"), formerly known as MY E.G. Services Berhad, is leading the way in the deployment of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence in powering the public and private sectors across ASEAN. Headquartered in Malaysia, Zetrix AI started operations in 2000 as a pioneer in the provision of electronic government services and complementary commercial offerings in its home country. Today, it has advanced to the forefront of technology transformation in the broader region, leveraging its Layer-1 blockchain platform Zetrix and embracing the convergence of Web3, AI and robotics to enable optimally-efficient, intelligent and secure cross-border transactions, digital identity interoperability and automation solutions that seamlessly connect people, businesses and governments.
About Zetrix
Zetrix is a layer-1 public blockchain that facilitates smart contracts and delivers privacy, security and scalability. Zetrix's cryptographic infrastructure can be introduced to multiple industries to connect governments, businesses and their citizens to a global blockchain-based economy. Developed by Zetrix AI Berhad, formerly known as MY E.G. Services Berhad, the cross-border and cross-chain integration with China enables Zetrix to serve as a blockchain gateway that facilitates global trade by deploying critical building blocks for Web3 services such as Blockchain-based Identifiers (BID) and Verifiable Credentials (VC).
About China Academy of Information and Communications Technology
Founded in 1957, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology ("CAICT") is a scientific research institute directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT") of China. It cherishes the cultural philosophy of "Boosting prosperity with virtues and expertise" for years while adhering to the development positioning of "a specialized think-tank for the government and an innovation and development platform for the industry". Committed to "the think-tank and enabler for innovation and development in an information society", CAICT has provided strong support for major strategy, plan, policy, test, and certification for the development of the national ICT sector and the IT application, thus proving itself an important facilitator in the leapfrog development and innovation of China's information and communications sector. It has been granted hundreds of scientific and technological awards at both national and provincial levels.
In recent years, with a view to adapting to the new eco-social backdrop and requirements, CAICT has strengthened its efforts in innovation to achieve a wider and deeper research landscape. It has conducted in-depth research and foresighted planning in the fields of 4G/5G/6G, industrial Internet, smart manufacturing, mobile Internet, Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Vehicles (loV), cloud computing, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), future networks, virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR), intelligent hardware, and cyber and information security. This enables CAICT to play an important role in strategy and policy study, technological innovation, industrial development, and international cooperation related to the ICT sector and the integration of industrialization and informatization.
New platform known as 'Avatar' aims to give autonomous AI agents verified identity, credentials and digital asset access to enable agentic economy
HONG KONG, April 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Zetrix AI Berhad ("Zetrix AI") and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology ("CAICT") unveiled a new initiative: the blockchain-based trust protocol for artificial intelligence agents, pitching it as critical infrastructure for an emerging "agentic economy" in which AI systems act, transact and communicate on behalf of people and companies.
Launched at the World Internet Conference Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, the platform — Avatar (http://avatar.inc) — allows individuals and enterprises to create agentic AI "digital twins" trained on their personality, preferences, knowledge and communications style. Those agents can then interact with users, other AI agents and online systems to carry out tasks with a verified identity layer and access to credentials or digital assets.
The announcement comes as companies push beyond chatbots toward autonomous systems that can negotiate, coordinate, execute workflows and represent users in digital environments. Avatar enables this by providing a trust protocol to verify who an agent represents, what it is authorised to do, and whether the assets or credentials it uses are real.
Built on a hybrid OpenClaw and pipeline framework and integrated with the Astron and Zetrix blockchains, Avatar is designed to let AI agents access verifiable credentials, including identity, professional qualifications and digital assets. The platform is set to also feature a CAICT-certified security framework and an open agent task store where third-party developers can publish their own specialised agents.
"Blockchain-empowered agentic AI will form the trust foundation for next-generation autonomous digital interactions" said Mr. You Xiao Yu, Vice President of Astron CAICT. "As agents begin acting on behalf of individuals and enterprises, the secure and trustworthy execution becomes non-negotiable."
Avatar is not just another AI assistant, but as infrastructure for a new category of internet activity built on verified machine-led engagement between people, companies and autonomous software agents.
"'Agents that represent their human users and/or companies herald a new wave of agentic tasks that require knowing who you are transacting with and having access to verifiable credentials or digital assets required to complete the task" said Mr. TS Wong, Group Managing Director of Zetrix AI, which developed the Zetrix layer-1 public blockchain.
During the showcase, Mr. CZ Wong, Chief AI Officer of Zetrix AI and architect of Avatar, outlined a future in which agentic AI avatars have the following interaction modes.
For executives and professionals, the company envisions avatars that can onboard employees, answer strategic questions and preserve institutional knowledge beyond the limits of human availability.
For celebrities and public personalities, avatars could handle fan engagement and commercial interactions at scale, allowing thousands of simultaneous personalised exchanges without requiring the individual to be physically present.
For creators and influencers, Zetrix AI sees Avatar as an AI-native monetisation engine, allowing users to package expertise, run paid communities, deliver personalised teaching and extend their commercial reach far beyond real-time human bandwidth.
For companies, the pitch is more disruptive: a shift away from static websites toward autonomous corporate agents that actively seek out prospects, tailor messaging to individual customer profiles and engage in continuous, customised outreach.
For consumers, the platform offers a more personal ambition: creating an enhanced super intelligent extension of themselves trained on his or her own knowledge and preferences, that can assist the user in completing tasks. Zetrix AI says that capability could evolve into a form of verifiable digital legacy, allowing future generations to interact with a persistent, knowledge-rich representation of a person after they are no longer available.
The most far-reaching opportunity, however, may be agent-to-agent interaction, or A2A. In that model, a user's avatar could directly negotiate, collaborate, exchange information and transact with another verified avatar, without immediate human intervention. Zetrix AI says the blockchain would serve as the trust, identity and settlement layer for those machine-to-machine exchanges.
A core part of that strategy is the platform's agent store, where third-party developers can upload specialised agents for use by other participants. Those agents can integrate with user credentials to perform specific functions, while developers can also seek CAICT security certification to improve adoption among enterprises and institutions.
The move highlights a growing effort to merge blockchain-based verification with AI autonomy as concerns mount over impersonation, permissions, hallucinations and the absence of trusted identity rails in open AI ecosystems.
Zetrix AI believes that trusted agent infrastructure could become as important to the next internet era as websites were to the first and mobile apps were to the second. If that thesis holds, Avatar is not just a product launch. It is a bet that the coming AI economy will need a trust layer — and that blockchain will supply it.
About Zetrix AI Berhad
Zetrix AI Berhad ("Zetrix AI"), formerly known as MY E.G. Services Berhad, is leading the way in the deployment of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence in powering the public and private sectors across ASEAN. Headquartered in Malaysia, Zetrix AI started operations in 2000 as a pioneer in the provision of electronic government services and complementary commercial offerings in its home country. Today, it has advanced to the forefront of technology transformation in the broader region, leveraging its Layer-1 blockchain platform Zetrix and embracing the convergence of Web3, AI and robotics to enable optimally-efficient, intelligent and secure cross-border transactions, digital identity interoperability and automation solutions that seamlessly connect people, businesses and governments.
About Zetrix
Zetrix is a layer-1 public blockchain that facilitates smart contracts and delivers privacy, security and scalability. Zetrix's cryptographic infrastructure can be introduced to multiple industries to connect governments, businesses and their citizens to a global blockchain-based economy. Developed by Zetrix AI Berhad, formerly known as MY E.G. Services Berhad, the cross-border and cross-chain integration with China enables Zetrix to serve as a blockchain gateway that facilitates global trade by deploying critical building blocks for Web3 services such as Blockchain-based Identifiers (BID) and Verifiable Credentials (VC).
About China Academy of Information and Communications Technology
Founded in 1957, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology ("CAICT") is a scientific research institute directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT") of China. It cherishes the cultural philosophy of "Boosting prosperity with virtues and expertise" for years while adhering to the development positioning of "a specialized think-tank for the government and an innovation and development platform for the industry". Committed to "the think-tank and enabler for innovation and development in an information society", CAICT has provided strong support for major strategy, plan, policy, test, and certification for the development of the national ICT sector and the IT application, thus proving itself an important facilitator in the leapfrog development and innovation of China's information and communications sector. It has been granted hundreds of scientific and technological awards at both national and provincial levels.
In recent years, with a view to adapting to the new eco-social backdrop and requirements, CAICT has strengthened its efforts in innovation to achieve a wider and deeper research landscape. It has conducted in-depth research and foresighted planning in the fields of 4G/5G/6G, industrial Internet, smart manufacturing, mobile Internet, Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Vehicles (loV), cloud computing, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), future networks, virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR), intelligent hardware, and cyber and information security. This enables CAICT to play an important role in strategy and policy study, technological innovation, industrial development, and international cooperation related to the ICT sector and the integration of industrialization and informatization.
** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
Zetrix, CAICT's Astron Unveil Blockchain-AI Trust Layer for Agentic AI Ecosystem
