Tycoon Li Ka-shing donates HK$60m to HKU and CUHK to ramp up AI in medical education

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have each received a donation of HK$30 million from billionaire Li Ka-shing to support the broader application of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical teaching and research.

The LKS Faculty of Medicine of HKU said it would provide an additional HK$30 million matching fund in parallel with Li’s benevolent fund to expand its investments in digital learning capacity building across hardware, software, and human capital.

Grants and scholarships will also be established to support students with financial need and reward those with academic excellence in AI learning.

The HKUMed said the faculty will enhance its curriculum to further develop health professional students’ digital health competencies. With the introduction of Generative AI technologies, the faculty will also be able to simulate more realistic patient scenarios and create a multimodal learning experience to train students’ history-taking, clinical reasoning, and interpersonal skills.

For CUHK, the Faculty of Medicine said it will invest a total of HK$60 million - together with the same amount of funding matched - to enhance the use of AI in medical education.

It added that the goal is to equip CU Medicine’s staff and students as the next generation of clinicians with the readiness to understand, apply, and develop AI-powered tools in clinical practice and prepare for the ethical challenges associated with the application of medical AI tools.

With the donation from Li, CU Medicine will roll out an “AI in Medical Education” scheme - including training for students and capacity building of faculty members - to further the integration of modern AI tools in delivering the medical curriculum, and expose students to the applications of AI in clinical medicine and health system management.