President's Message
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the HKUST Center for Artificial Intelligence Research opening ceremony.
This year, we are delighted to see the participation of the world eminent specialist on AI technology innovation and research frontiers, as well as regional influential figures to share their insights into cutting-edge AI technologies and applications.
AI is one of the fastest growing fields, promising boundless potential in enhancing our quality of life. Like many other places in the worlds, Hong Kong is underpinning changes in the AI profession, driven primarily by the multi-disciplinary AI related research.
Cross-disciplinary and cross-regional collaboration are essential for the development of innovation and technology. We hope that the Center for AI research can leverage the power of top-notch experts, researcher, and industry leaders from different fields and locations to interact, innovate, and work together to address the challenges of future AI research. We also hope to nurture young talent and catalyze the translation of innovative research to practice and application.
On behalf of HKUST, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you for your continued and tremendous support to the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research.
I sincerely wish you all a most enjoyable and fruitful time in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and at the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research.
Prof. Wei SHYY
President
HKUST
Message from the Vice-President for Research and Development
The pervasiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to revolutionize every aspect of life, industry and society, has made itself abundantly apparent in the past decade. From the original neural networks to machine learning to present-day deep learning, the era of availability and accessibility of large swathes of data has allowed more advancement in the area of AI than ever before. Establishing the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAiRE) is not just timely, but critical, to meet the increasingly complex challenges faced by respective industries and society for streamlined, efficient and optimized research solutions through the use of AI.
Poised on the intersection between East and West, Hong Kong is at a cultural vantage point to develop AI research that encompasses the best of both worlds. The ubiquity of AI deserves a holistic and comprehensive research approach – fitting at HKUST where we underscore interdisciplinary and collaborative research. The establishment of an AI research platform fits snugly in our existing research infrastructure, facilitating joint collaborative research projects between departments, research units and individual faculty. More importantly, beyond advancing AI core technologies, CAiRE will embark on a mission to resolve the intricate governance and ethical issues that currently shroud AI, and set precedence for this untraversed territory.
The potential for AI research to revolutionize the way we relate to technology makes this concerted endeavor a meaningful one. We are excited to be part of the technological movement to craft and regulate AI and welcome the new and crucial addition to HKUST’s growing research enterprise.
Prof. Nancy IP
Vice-President for Research and Development
HKUST