22-05-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
SOTY 2023/24: Hong Kong student's AI invention wins Geneva award for child safety
Chow Sze-lok, a 17-year-old student at St Mary's Canossian College, has been passionate about technology since childhood, when her family gave her an old Windows XP computer.
'I had to figure out how to use it on my own, exploring Microsoft Word and the internet,' she recalled.
Her curiosity grew through primary school information technology (IT) classes.
'By Primary Two or Three, I enjoyed experimenting with IT. When we started learning programming in Primary Three or Four, I picked it up quickly and loved the logical thinking behind it,' she said.
A teacher later introduced her to App Inventor and encouraged her to join her first coding competition. 'I didn't win, but I loved the process of creating something from nothing,' Sze-lok said.
In secondary school, Sze-lok's interest in STEM led her to take on technological projects. In late 2022, reports of child abuse in Child Residential Care Centres caught her attention.
'I saw frequent reports in newspapers about abuse cases. I had a happy childhood, so seeing children suffer felt unfair. Every child is innocent – why can't they all have a happy childhood?' she said.
She wondered if technology could help.
'There were already CCTV cameras, but the problem persisted. AI was gaining popularity, [so] I thought, why not use AI to detect abuse in CCTV footage?'
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She discussed the idea with classmates and decided to take action: 'We presented it to our teacher, who supported us. However, the project was entirely student-led. The school provided equipment, but we developed everything ourselves.'
She said the biggest challenge was training the AI model. 'Because CCTV is video, we needed a method that could analyse frame sequences instead of treating them as separate images. Finding the right model was tough. But I thought, if this could save children, I had to push through.'
The project, Kid-AID, took about six months to develop, with additional refinements over a few more months. 'We tested it by filming simulated abuse scenarios at school, but we couldn't apply it in real childcare settings due to privacy concerns. However, our internal tests were largely successful,' she said.
In 2024, Sze-lok's school participated in the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, where Kid-AID won a bronze medal. 'We spent a week presenting our invention to visitors and judges. We also had the chance to see projects from Hong Kong universities,' she said.
Experts at the exhibition provided valuable feedback. 'They suggested ways to improve user-friendliness and operations. Some concerns they raised were things we hadn't thought about, making it a great learning experience.'
She believes technology has a role in solving societal issues. 'AI could handle repetitive tasks that consume human labour, like cleaning,' she said.
'I also hope technology can help bridge inequalities, providing better resources to developing countries.'
Sze-lok was the first runner-up in the Scientist/Mathematician category at the Student of the Year Awards 2023/24, organised by the South China Morning Post and sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
'My goal has always been to use technology to improve lives,' she explained. 'Knowing your purpose helps you identify real-world problems and find ways to address them.'
