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The government’s proposed “AI city brain” will integrate cross-departmental data to respond to extreme weather and emergency incidents while incorporating human oversight to ensure that any AI-generated recommendations are practical and reasonable, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said on Thursday.
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The Policy Address recently proposed an integrated city management system to centralize cross-departmental data on public works, the environment, transport, and emergency response. The initial phase will cost HK$200 million and is targeted for completion by 2028.
Speaking at a policy briefing before the Legislative Council's Panel on Security, Tang emphasized that artificial intelligence will serve strictly as an analytical aid rather than a replacement for human judgment.
Under the plan, real-time sensing and integrated data analytics would replace manual monitoring during extreme weather events. Instead of staff having to review information such as closed-circuit television footage, drainage blockages and traffic congestion, Tang said the AI system will automatically process cross-departmental data to forecast severe flooding risks and recommend targeted operational responses.
Addressing concerns raised by lawmaker Lau Ka-keung regarding data coordination among roughly 30 government bodies, Tang clarified that the platform will not collect new external data.
Instead, it will streamline and unify information already available on currently separate departmental platforms, including weather models from the Hong Kong Observatory, the Civil Engineering and Development Department’s landslide reporting system, and underground sensor networks operated by the Water Supplies and Drainage Services Department.
Tang added that while departmental representatives currently convene in emergency monitoring centers to exchange situation reports manually, the centralized AI hub will automate interdepartmental communications, significantly cutting response latency during disasters.
Turning to national security issues, lawmaker Andrew Fan Chun-wah inquired whether public national security education could be broadened through mobile exhibitions, and whether curriculum modules on national identity could be incorporated into the Ethics College—an academy established by the Correctional Services Department inside penal facilities to support adult inmate rehabilitation and continuing education.
Tang affirmed that national security outreach continues across primary and secondary schools as well as broader local communities through drama performances, mobile educational vans, and grassroots community ambassadors.
He underscored that beyond the Ethics College curriculum, the department has integrated national education components—emphasizing national identity, civic lawfulness, and patriotic awareness—across correctional rehabilitation programs for all inmates.
