The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s education system, while not perfect, has a long history of producing highly competent students in their chosen fields of study. Other jurisdictions often marvel at the city’s ability to remain a global leader in academic standards.

One possible reason Hong Kong has earned this reputation is the education sector’s constant self-reflection at policymaking level. An objective acknowledgment and active pursuit of high educational standards has allowed the city’s educational institutions to remain competitive when it comes to academic performance.

The world over, Hong Kong-educated civil and mechanical engineers are sought-after candidates. Some suggest that this is a direct result of the city’s historically proactive stance on continuous educational improvement. This same focus by policymakers is now being expanded to a new area — integrated STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education frameworks and, especially, the breakneck advancements being made in the field of artificial intelligence.

Last September, US-based Open AI released a new AI model which was trained using a different method to its previous Chat GPT-4. Dubbed “o1” but commonly referred to as Strawberry, this new model boasts of being able to answer questions of greater difficulty as well as user prompts that involve human levels of reasoning.  

This new AI model, along with its predecessor, was tested against a qualifying exam for the International Mathematical Olympiad and the results were encouraging or frightening, depending on one’s opinions with regard to AI development. In the test, Chat GPT-4 only correctly solved 13 percent of the problems, while o1 scored 83 percent. The accuracy of the new model’s ability to approximate human reasoning is cause for debate but its performance is a clear sign of improvement.

As is now a common occurrence in the AI community, the announcement of this innovation created ripples through AI-based industries. It was accompanied by more consideration for the wider philosophical questions around ethics, attribution and fake news that will soon have to be addressed.

For Hong Kong’s educators and parents, the questions around AI are less abstract and contain far more immediate consequences for answering those philosophical questions incorrectly. Generative AI models have improved drastically within the last year and tools like Open AI’s o1 already outperform junior software developers.

All in all, this is a positive step toward regulating the extracurricular STEAM, ed tech and AI educational space, allowing parents to make better informed decisions when navigating the emerging tech-based educational courses on offer for their progeny’s future

AI industrialists, like Emad Mostaque, the previous CEO of Stability AI, oft repeat the mantra that the future will be defined by those who learn how to work with AI tools and those who don’t, which adds to the growing parental concern for their children’s position in an AI-based future.

Previously, parental challenges involved ensuring that children possessed an enriched academic profile, with diverse extracurricular activities, which was relatively easy to maintain as the quality of that instruction was not difficult to assess. But with AI innovations being a major force driving educational technology (ed tech) and STEAM education development, parents now have to judge claims made by STEAM and ed tech institutions with great care. Sadly, the word of mouth recommendation apparatus of the past is yet to be established for AI-based extracurricular learning.

This leads to the dual hidden danger of educational institutions entering Hong Kong’s lucrative extracurricular education market with the sole intention of making a profit; so they may offer courses designed with less than rigorous educational standards over traditional extracurricular subjects like English, piano or sports.

The second danger is that of relevant STEAM, ed tech and AI instruction being priced out of reach for Hong Kong parents from lower-income households due to the high cost involved with implementing advances such as Open AI’s o1 model into existing educational material.

This is where NGOs like the International Youth STEAM Education Association hope to further alleviate these parental concerns.

In the world of STEAM, ICT, ed tech and AI education, stark realities exist as to what is relevant, age-appropriate and most importantly, practical and teachable. Hong Kong’s Education Bureau has taken concrete steps to make the advancements in STEAM education accessible to all segments of Hong Kong society.  

However, not all Hong Kong parents possess a degree in computer science. As such, many can easily become overwhelmed by the sheer number of STEAM and ed tech courses on offer, with little to no oversight on their quality and relevance.

To combat this, the Education Bureau has published a STEAM framework and curriculum in an attempt to consolidate key knowledge points within STEAM education, and especially regarding AI. These, and other measures, are to position Hong Kong’s educational resources toward alleviating concerns of parents and keeping advancements in the field of AI accessible to all.

All in all, this is a positive step toward regulating the extracurricular STEAM, ed tech and AI educational space, allowing parents to make better informed decisions when navigating the emerging tech-based educational courses on offer for their progeny’s future.

The author is a writer, columnist and historian based in Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.