Organisations and individuals in Hong Kong are being urged to seize AI opportunities that could benefit future economic and personal growth, following the February Budget announcement outlining a multi-billion-dollar push to embed AI into every layer of business, the economy, and society.
In addition to HK$100m to steer AI adoption across government departments, Financial Secretary Paul Chan unveiled a HK$3bn AI subsidy scheme to boost R&D; HK$2bn to improve AI education in primary and secondary schools, including teacher training; and HK$50m to support workforce upskilling and foster awareness. While educators and business associations have welcomed the funding as a good start, they note that turning Hong Kong into a genuinely AI-fluent society will require a sustained effort from government, educators, employers and individuals.
Build capacity
While Hong Kong faces a cross-industry AI talent shortage, experts cite the need to transform educators from basic users into practitioners with the ability to integrate learning into specific subjects. With universities scheduled to introduce 27 undergraduate programmes by the 2027/28 academic year and the Vocational Training Council implementing compulsory AI modules across its higher diploma courses, education experts are concerned that there is a severe lack of capacity to train the trainers.
Only 2% of Hong Kong organisations are fully prepared to be ‘pacesetters’
According to Microsoft’s 2025 Annual Work Trend Index, AI proficiency has become a non-negotiable asset. While the index found that 76% of Hong Kong businesses surveyed expected to use ‘digital labour’ to expand their workforce, the Cisco 2025 AI Readiness Index revealed that only 2% of Hong Kong organisations are fully prepared to be ‘pacesetters’. (According to Cisco’s definition, a pacesetter is an organisation that adopts a system-level approach balancing infrastructure, data, governance, people and culture.)
‘Split-screen’ moment
Similar to many other markets, Hong Kong is experiencing a ‘split-screen’ moment, characterised by a mix of adoption enthusiasm and fears about job security. For example, the introduction of mandatory regulation accountability such as the Protection of Critical Infrastructures (Computer Systems) Ordinance (effective from 1 January 2026) has created a demand for ‘AI guardians’: typically professionals with comprehensive domain expertise combined with technical literacy. Reflected in the premium salaries being offered, the transition from general AI to agentic AI – which is focused on autonomous decision-making – is also creating a demand for supervisors with the knowledge and skills to shift the focus from digital execution to agentic AI curation.
If the first step of the career ladder is lost, the rest of the ladder is likely to collapse
Meanwhile, the Joint Institution Job Information System, a centralised online platform shared by Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities, reports that ‘class of 2025’ graduates are facing challenging career prospects, with 69% of job sectors recording their fewest vacancies in six years, a trend that experts say can be linked to the rise of AI.
However, a number of Hong Kong recruitment specialists caution that, while replacing entry-level roles with AI technology may seem like a practical solution, it could prove to be detrimental in the long run. As one recruitment specialist put it, ‘no entry-level roles and no hands-on training and experience could result in a lack of competent leaders in in the future’.
As things stand, Hong Kong’s Big Four firms are actively targeting students graduating by June 2026 for graduate trainee roles in auditing, tax and environmental, social and governance. They are seemingly heeding the concept that, if the first step of the career ladder is lost, the rest of the ladder is likely to collapse.
