Lessons from Hong Kong and China: What Malaysia can do to unlock its smart city potential
It booked your e-hailing ride to the train station, reminded you to top up your e-wallet and even suggested an umbrella because rain clouds over Bangsar are moving in faster than expected.
AI is no longer just a buzzword. Across Asia, the technology is already woven into daily life — and Malaysia is only beginning to catch up.
But what exactly is AI?
At its simplest, AI refers to computer systems that can perform tasks which typically require human intelligence — such as understanding language, recognising images, solving problems and learning from data.
Unlike traditional software, AI can adapt, spot patterns and make predictions quickly and accurately.
In Malaysia, AI is already shaping daily life behind the scenes.
E-commerce platforms use it to recommend products and time flash sales, banking mobile applications detect unusual spending and categorise expenses automatically and ride-hailing platforms adjust fares based on traffic and demand, while Rapid KL taps AI data to optimise bus routes.
But compared to its Asian neighbours, Malaysia is still in the early stages of adoption.
Recently, Malay Mail joined a group of Asean journalists on a visit to Hong Kong and Shenzhen to see how AI is being integrated into city life and daily routines.
Cyberport Hong Kong corporate communications senior manager Cindy Fung demonstrates the use of AI in the classroom. — Picture courtesy of China Daily Asia Pacific
What's it like in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, AI already plays a visible role in daily operations.
The MTR (Mass Transit Railway) uses sensors and real-time algorithms to manage crowd flow and adjust train frequency, preventing congestion on busy platforms.
Government services rely on AI chatbots to handle tax and permit applications in multiple languages.
The private sector is also leaning on AI, for example retailers like Watsons in Hong Kong deploy AI-powered mirrors that analyse skin and recommend products instantly.
In hospitals, AI is used to pre-screen chest X-rays, freeing doctors to concentrate on more complex cases.
Even the Legislative Council (LegCo) taps AI to transcribe and summarise lengthy debates, making proceedings more accessible to the public.
Among the tools used most often is iFLYTEK, a China-based AI platform that does simultaneous interpretation.
It is able to support 60 languages for text translation with about 15 languages optimised for real-time speech-to-speech or live transcription at conference level.
Smart traffic with AI in Shenzhen
Just across the border from Hong Kong, in Shenzhen, one of the most visible applications of AI is on the roads.
Once a quiet fishing village, the city now operates a sophisticated traffic control system built in collaboration with Huawei from 2019.
At its core is an ultra-broadband network capable of processing 40 times more data than traditional systems.
Combined with citywide surveillance, AI detects fake plates, scrapped vehicles and multiple violations in real time.
China's approach
Beyond Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China has embedded AI across various sectors.
Healthcare platforms such as InferVision help detect early signs of lung cancer.
In agriculture, AI monitors weather, soil and pests to optimise yields — for instance, supporting Maoming's lychee industry.
In classrooms, the Squirrel AI platform personalises lessons in real time, giving each student a tailored learning path.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim speaks during the launch of the Asean AI Malaysia Summit 2025 (AAIMS 2025) at MITEC in Kuala Lumpur on August 12, 2025. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
Will AI take over jobs?
Malaysia's National AI Roadmap is focused on preparing the workforce through upskilling and ethical adoption.
For example, the Education Ministry has announced the introduction of AI basics in schools from 2027, supported by 10,000 smartboards nationwide and pilot projects that flag dropout risks.
In classrooms, AI is already helping teachers by generating learning summaries for parents and highlighting struggling students.
In offices, it assists with translations, document drafting and grammar checks.
In tourism, it could one day guide visitors to halal eateries, recommend local food or provide flood alerts in real time.
Experts say AI is less about replacing people and more about amplifying the workforce.
Like it or not, AI is already creeping into Malaysians' daily routines — from online shopping to transport, classrooms and workplaces. The challenge ahead is not resisting the technology but preparing to use it wisely.
At the end of the day, AI is not about replacing people, but about amplifying what humans can already do.
For Malaysia, that future could be as personal as brewing your morning kopi-o and as public as streamlining government services — a digital assistant that makes life just a little smoother, wherever you are.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
21 minutes ago
- The Star
Nasdaq slides again as AI jitters rattle tech investors
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Tech stocks are leading declines on Wall Street, with worries about AI spurring debates about its future. The Nasdaq Composite is down around 2.4% over the last two days, the worst two-day fall since April. The semiconductor index was down 1.5%, while the information technology sector was the second biggest decliner in the S&P 500, dropping 1.1% on Wednesday. Market participants attributed the selloff to a range of factors including a technical pullback after driving much of the stock market's recovery in the weeks after April 2nd "Liberation Day." Analysts also cited deepening concerns of government interference with companies, as the Trump administration looked into taking equity stakes in chip companies such as Intel in exchange for grants under the CHIPS Act. COMMENTS: ART HOGAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, B. RILEY WEALTH MANAGEMENT, BOSTON: "Technology in general is up 40% from its April lows, and the group clearly got ahead of itself. Also, if there's anything to the market consensus that we'll see a Fed rate cut, then there will be room for other things to work as well – and there are 493 other stocks in the S&P 500 that are lagging the Mag 7 right now. So I think there's a bit of a rotation." "I don't know how long it will last, but if it does keep going, well, August and September (are) the weak period seasonally in which it could do so. Also, there are some people who are beginning to question the pace at which we need to be chasing AI capital spending. If you put all this together: when technology stocks take a breather, this is what it looks like. Nvidia and other blue chips in the group are seeing relatively steady drawdowns, but things on the speculative edge are clearly seeing more selling pressure. Palantir has gone from trading at 200 times sales to 150 times its sales, for instance." MICHAEL ASHLEY SCHULMAN, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, RUNNING POINT, EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA: "Tuesday' s U.S. technology stock swoon and its continuation today looks like multiple compression meeting a little margin math, but the timing makes it hard to ignore the new elephant in the server room. Names that had been sprinting on AI dreams pulled back hard, with Nvidia, AMD, and Palantir Technologies among the drags." "DeepSeek's update landed on Tuesday represents a serious cocktail of capability and availability and traders well remember the original harsh tech-market pullback DeepSeek caused when it was first broadly recognized in January of this year." BRIAN JACOBSEN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ANNEX WEALTH MANAGEMENT, BROOKFIELD, WISCONSIN: "When you go from rally to rout, it shows how vulnerable the names were to even a scent of bad news. It could have been (Sam)Altman's valuation warning and then Meta restructuring its AI division threw fuel on the fire." PHIL BLANCATO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LADENBURG THALMANN ASSET MANAGEMENT, NEW YORK: "It's much more about profit-taking and temporary rebalancing here. If you get a Federal Reserve cut or a mention of it on Friday, this will reverse pretty quickly, but this is a lot to do with names pushed up to really lofty levels and profit taking across the board." SETH HICKLE, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, MINDSET WEALTH MANAGEMENT, INDIANAPOLIS: "I think we are starting to see a little bit of rotation. It's always healthy to see a little bit of a pullback to that way, the markets can kind of get re-oriented." "To me, tech was overbought. Maybe it was justified, but it could have been kind of a buy on the rumor, sell it on the news type of thing where we had tech runup into earnings. We had really good earnings, and now it's kind of natural for the market just to sell some of that good news." "I wouldn't be surprised if we see a little bit of rotation into some smaller cap or into healthcare names, or consumer staples. And to me, that's kind of a healthy rotation. But honestly, I don't believe it will be a longer-term trend. It'll probably be a shorter-term trend. I think we'll see money flow back into tech in the next couple months." STEVESOSNICK, CHIEF STRATEGIST, INTERACTIVE BROKERS, CONNECTICUT "The tech-led selloff that we saw yesterday resumed this morning. That said, dip buyers stepped in around 11am EDT and we've now recovered about half our losses. It's somewhat inevitable to expect them to arrive promptly, though it did take a bit longer than usual." "I believe that some of the early declines are related to profit-taking and risk squaring ahead of (Fed Chair Jerome)Powell's speech on Friday. That is merely rotation and relatively benign, though it gets magnified because of megacap tech stocks' heavy weighting in key some of the ferocity of the early drop was related to the President's calls for Lisa Cook's resignation." "Note that futures broke through their pre-market lows shortly after he posted on Truth Social. Markets were not perturbed that there are inquiries into the propriety of her personal mortgage applications. She gets a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, like any other person. But when the President weighed in even before the process began, then it raised the specter of politicization. That put markets on the wrong foot early, and negative momentum ruled again – at least for a couple of hours." ADAM SARHAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, 50 PARK INVESTMENTS, NEW YORK: "To see a little pullback here after a big move up is perfectly normal and healthy. If the selling gets worse then you'll see a rotation out of tech and into undervalued areas of the market like biotech stocks or healthcare stocks or small cap stocks because those areas have not participated this year." (Reporting by Carolina Mandl, Johann Cherian, Laura Matthews, Suzanne McGee, and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss)
The Star
21 minutes ago
- The Star
Analysis-US tech-stock stumble shows vulnerability in AI trade
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. technology shares are showing signs of vulnerability after a massive run, which has some investors pointing to overdone AI-driven gains while funds have taken steps to position away from the high-flying sector. Investors are looking to de-risk portfolios or lock in profits during a seasonally difficult period for stocks. Friday's looming speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole symposium is creating caution, investors said, with the potential for volatility if his comments fail to meet growing market expectations that the central bank is poised to cut interest rates. "When you have overcrowding and you have had such strong performance, it doesn't take much to see an unwind of that," said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services. "At the same time this week, everyone is waiting for the Fed, and there is repositioning ahead of that." The heavyweight S&P 500 tech sector fell sharply for a second consecutive session on Wednesday, putting its decline on the week at about 2.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was off about 2% for the week. Shares of some highflyers, including Nvidia Corp and Palantir Technologies, were getting hit particularly hard. The pullback comes after a huge rally in which the tech sector soared over 50% through last week since the market's low for the year in April. That easily topped the 29% gain of the broader S&P 500 during that period and drove up valuations of tech stocks to lofty levels. Investors cited wariness about the artificial intelligence trade, which has been a key driver of tech stocks and the broader market as indexes have soared to record highs this year. Shares of Nvidia, the semiconductor giant that has symbolized the AI trade, have gained about 30% this year while shares of AI-focused data and analytics firm Palantir have roughly doubled year-to-date. Indeed, the tech sector's price-to-earnings ratio recently reached about 30 times expected earnings for the next 12 months, its highest level in a year, according to LSEG Datastream, while tech's share of the overall S&P 500's market value is nearly its highest since 2000. Recent cautionary signs included a study from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that found that 95% of organizations are getting no return on AI investments, as well as comments by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who told tech news website the Verge last week that investors may be getting overexcited about AI. Since last week, some AI-linked shares have pulled back sharply: Nvidia has dropped about 5% while shares of Palantir have slumped some 16%. In Europe, stocks of so-called AI adopters have been under pressure over concerns over how powerful new AI models could disrupt the software sector. Still, some investors said, the caution is unlikely to be a sign that enthusiasm over AI is fizzling. 'These are price corrections," said Andrew Almeida, director of investments at financial planning network XYPN. "But if you look at the big picture, it's clear that more people will be investing more dollars in AI infrastructure. This is certainly not a 'reckoning' with the AI theme." JACKSON HOLE SEEN AS CRITICAL Investors also could be paring back their stock exposure during a traditionally rocky period for equities. August and September rank as the worst-performing months on average for the S&P 500 over the past 35 years, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac. "Valuations were stretched, these names have not taken a breather, and we're going into a tougher season for stocks," said King Lip, chief strategist at Baker Avenue Wealth Management. Other sectors such as consumer staples, healthcare and financials were up on the week, while relative strength for the equal-weight S&P 500 signaled to some investors a possible start of broadening of gains beyond the massive tech stocks that have led indexes higher. Powell's upcoming speech comes as Fed fund futures on Wednesday were indicating an 84% chance that the central bank will cut rates at its next meeting on September 16-17. Investors will be watching to see if Powell gives any indication that the central bank is on track for such a move or if he pushes back on the market's expectation for easing, which could spark volatility. Tech stocks tend to carry higher valuations which could make them sensitive to higher-than-expected interest rates going forward. "There are a lot of people who have overweighted tech, and it has worked for them," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services. "They don't want to get caught on the wrong side of that if in fact, the Fed doesn't do anything in September. So I think that is also causing (investors) to maybe not necessarily get out of tech, but to reduce the overweight a little bit." (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Additional reporting by Suzanne McGee and Laura Matthews in New York, Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Lucy Raitano in London; Editing by Megan Davies and Matthew Lewis)
Malay Mail
21 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
US demand for RVs driving deforestation in Indonesia's Borneo, say NGOs
JAKARTA, Aug 21 — Tropical wood demand from some of America's top RV brands is fuelling deforestation on the Indonesian island of Borneo, home to Asia's last great rainforest, according to a new investigation by environmental NGOs. The recreational vehicle industry is now the biggest consumer of tropical wood in the United States, UK-based NGO Earthsight and Indonesian NGO Auriga Nusantara said in a report published late Tuesday. They said evidence showed sheets of tropical 'lauan' plywood found in Indonesia were likely being used in the floors, walls and ceilings of RVs produced by major brands like Jayco, Winnebago and Forest River. 'Nature-loving RV owners will be horrified to learn that their hobby risks destroying rainforests,' said Earthsight director Sam Lawson in a press release. 'America's RV giants need to get out of the 1980s and implement the kinds of minimum sustainability standards other US corporates have had in place for decades.' Indonesia has one of the world's highest rates of deforestation linked to mining, farming and logging, and is accused of allowing firms to operate in Borneo with little oversight. Borneo island has one of the world's largest tracts of rainforest and hosts orangutans, long-nosed monkeys, clouded leopards, pig-tailed macaques, flying fox-bats and the smallest rhinos on the planet. Large tracts of orangutan habitat in Borneo were found to be 'cleared to make way for a plantation of fast-growing timber', the NGOs said. An Indonesian plywood company, PT Kayu Lapis Asli Murni, sourced timber mostly from rainforest in areas the NGOs visited, half of which was then exported to US firms MJB Wood and Tumac Lumber in 2024, they said. MJB Wood is the main lauan plywood supplier to Jayco, while Tumac Lumber supplies companies such as RV parts maker Patrick Industries, 'whose customers include Thor Industries, Forest River and Winnebago', the report said. The NGOs said it meant it was 'almost certain' Indonesian tropical wood was being used in the RV supply chain in the United States. None of the companies mentioned replied to the report's authors when asked for comment, it said. Neither the companies nor the Indonesian environment ministry immediately responded to an AFP request for comment. — AFP
