HKMA announces inaugural cohort of GenA.I. Sandbox
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), in collaboration with the
Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (Cyberport), announced
today (19 December) the first cohort of the Generative Artificial
Intelligence (GenA. I. ) Sandbox.
A total of 15 use cases,
from 10 banks and four technology partners (see Annex), have been
selected as the inaugural participants in the GenA. I. Sandbox from
over 40 proposals received. Each use case underwent a rigorous
priorisation process conducted by a selection committee comprising
subject matter experts from the academia as well as from the HKMA and
Cyberport. The priorisation focused on the level of innovation,
technical sophistication of the proposed solutions, expected
contributions to the industry and adherence to fair-use principles1.
The proposed use cases mainly revolve around enhancing risk
management, anti-fraud measures and customer experience. Through the
GenA. I. Sandbox, banks will explore GenA. I. ’s unique capabilities
in processing vast amounts of documents and unstructured data, as well
as its ability to handle cross-media inputs and outputs, such as text,
audio and graphics. Notable examples include augmenting credit
assessment and fraud detection by automated processing of unstructured
data, and enhancing customer service to handle more personalised and
complex enquiries, as an improvement over typical pre-defined
chatbots.
The selected participants will be gradually
onboarded to a dedicated platform of the Artificial Intelligence
Supercomputing Centre operated by Cyberport, with technical trials
expected to commence in early 2025 and continue through mid-2025. The
HKMA and Cyberport will provide supervisory and technical guidance to
participants in an interactive and iterative manner throughout the
trial processes. The HKMA will also draw insights from the technical
trials and share best practices with the industry.
Mr Arthur
Yuen, Deputy Chief Executive of the HKMA, said, “We are pleased to see
a keen interest from the banking industry in the exploration of GenA.
I. , reflecting the eagerness and openness of banks of all sizes to
utilise novel technologies in their operations and services. As the
market continues to develop more innovative ideas, the GenA. I.
Sandbox remains ready to provide a risk-controlled testing ground for
the industry. We look forward to seeing the results from our
participants and sharing these experiences with the industry. I would
also like to express my gratitude to Professor Chan2, Professor Tam3
and Professor Yiu4 for offering their valuable expert advice as part
of the selection committee. ”
The HKMA plans to announce the
application process for the second cohort of the GenA. I. Sandbox by
the end of the first quarter of 2025. Initial insights and learnings
from the first cohort will be shared prior to the application deadline
for the second cohort to facilitate formulation of trial use cases.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority 19 December 2024
1 HKMA
Circular, “Generative Artificial Intelligence Sandbox” issued on 20
September 2024
2 Professor CK Chan, Programme Director,
MSc/PgD in Financial Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Professor
of Practice in Financial Technology, Department of Systems Engineering
and Engineering Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
3 Professor Kar-yan Tam, Vice President for Administration and
Business and Chair Professor of Information Systems, Business
Statistics and Operations Management, The Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology
4 Professor S. M. Yiu, Associate
Director and Professor, School of Computing and Data Science, The
University of Hong Kong