logo
Embrace AI in teaching to survive ‘tsunami', University of Hong Kong head says

Embrace AI in teaching to survive ‘tsunami', University of Hong Kong head says

Universities should embrace the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching if they want to survive, the president of Hong Kong's oldest tertiary education institution has said, as he expects the sector to be reshaped in the coming decade.
Xiang Zhang from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) also said it would establish a school of government and public policy to attract young leaders to Hong Kong.
In an exclusive interview with the Post, Zhang said AI presented a huge opportunity and a challenge because universities could no longer simply feed students knowledge amid an 'AI tsunami'.
'Now students have many other alternatives. They can have AI teachers from the internet who could be better than some of our teachers, so we're going to compete with AI basically in terms of the avenue of acquiring knowledge,' he said.
'So can teachers be better equipped with AI tools so students can more easily absorb the materials and content?'
Zhang added that institutions would be left behind if they did not embrace change.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Hong Kong family office VMS Group makes first foray into cryptocurrency
Hong Kong family office VMS Group makes first foray into cryptocurrency

South China Morning Post

timean hour ago

  • South China Morning Post

Hong Kong family office VMS Group makes first foray into cryptocurrency

A money manager to some of Hong Kong 's richest individuals will start investing in cryptocurrency , as more favourable regulations attract a wider array of investors to the digital-asset sector. VMS Group , a multifamily office with just under US$4 billion in assets under management, plans to allocate up to US$10 million to strategies run by decentralised-finance hedge fund Re7 Capital, said VMS managing partner Elton Cheung in an interview. He added that the size of the allocation has not been finalised. The decision is part of recent moves by VMS to diversify into more liquid investments, Cheung said. The firm has largely focused on private equity and other longer-duration strategies since it was founded two decades ago. While those investments have performed well, such types of assets have become less liquid as more companies opt to stay private for longer, making it more difficult to exit, he said. VMS, which helps manage money for some of the city's billionaire families from property to conglomerates, runs funds that invest in various sectors including internet and pharmaceuticals . In 2023, it teamed up with a former executive from the Hong Kong-headquartered artificial intelligence company SenseTime Group to look for early-stage investments in the technology. Cheung declined to identify VMS' clients.

In light of US sanctions, China unveils first parallel optical computing chip, ‘Meteor-1'
In light of US sanctions, China unveils first parallel optical computing chip, ‘Meteor-1'

South China Morning Post

time4 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

In light of US sanctions, China unveils first parallel optical computing chip, ‘Meteor-1'

Chinese researchers have developed the first highly parallel optical computing integrated chip, named 'Meteor-1', setting a milestone for using light to perform an enormous number of operations at the same time, the scientists say. The advance promises hardware acceleration for AI and data centres struggling with soaring computational demands The chip achieves a theoretical peak computing power of 2,560 TOPS (tera-operations per second) at 50GHz optical frequency – performance comparable to Nvidia's advanced GPUs – according to a report by Chinese publisher DeepTech last week. 02:17 Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveils plan to build 'AI supercomputer' in Taiwan Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveils plan to build 'AI supercomputer' in Taiwan Nvidia's latest GeForce RTX 5090 graphic card, for instance, peaks at 3,352 TOPS while its previous flagship RTX 4090 only reached 1,321 TOPS. In the past, optical chips remained mostly in laboratory settings, and could not come close to commercial flagship GPUs in real-life tasks. Nvidia's 4090 and 5090 are effectively banned for sale to China because of US export controls on advanced semiconductors and AI chips that could aid Beijing in advancing its military capabilities. As traditional electronic chips hit fundamental physical limits – from heat build-up, quantum effects and unsustainable power consumption – optical computing emerges as a critical future direction. Its inherent advantages, such as ultra-high speed, broad bandwidth, low power and minimal latency, position it to overcome these barriers. Progress in optical computing has long focused on two key challenges: scaling up the matrix size and increasing optical frequency. Existing top models – exemplified by prototypes from TSMC and the California Institute of Technology – are pushing against both engineering and physical limits. Consequently, a third way – expanding computational parallelism, or the ability of chips to multitask – has become the necessary path forward.

Embrace AI in teaching to survive ‘tsunami', University of Hong Kong head says
Embrace AI in teaching to survive ‘tsunami', University of Hong Kong head says

South China Morning Post

time6 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

Embrace AI in teaching to survive ‘tsunami', University of Hong Kong head says

Universities should embrace the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching if they want to survive, the president of Hong Kong's oldest tertiary education institution has said, as he expects the sector to be reshaped in the coming decade. Xiang Zhang from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) also said it would establish a school of government and public policy to attract young leaders to Hong Kong. In an exclusive interview with the Post, Zhang said AI presented a huge opportunity and a challenge because universities could no longer simply feed students knowledge amid an 'AI tsunami'. 'Now students have many other alternatives. They can have AI teachers from the internet who could be better than some of our teachers, so we're going to compete with AI basically in terms of the avenue of acquiring knowledge,' he said. 'So can teachers be better equipped with AI tools so students can more easily absorb the materials and content?' Zhang added that institutions would be left behind if they did not embrace change.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store