1.1 · AI & Data Science
Goal: explain what AI and data science are and give real-life Hong Kong examples.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is a branch of computer science concerned with building systems that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence — reasoning, learning, perception, decision making.
Sub-fields you should recognise
| Sub-field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Machine Learning | Algorithms that learn patterns from data |
| Deep Learning | Neural networks with many layers (image, speech, language) |
| Natural Language Processing (NLP) | Understands/produces human language (ChatGPT, translators) |
| Computer Vision | Interprets images and videos |
| Robotics | Combining AI with physical machines |
Pattern recognition — the foundation
The C&A Guide specifically mentions pattern recognition through AI. Examples:
- Facial recognition unlocks your phone.
- Speech recognition transcribes your voice.
- Fraud detection spots unusual credit-card use.
- OCR reads handwriting and printed text.
Data Science
Data Science combines statistics, computing and domain expertise to extract insights from large data.
Typical pipeline
Collect → Clean → Analyse → Visualise → Decide1
Examples
| Field | Use of data science |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | Predict outbreaks, personalise treatment |
| Banking | Credit scoring, anti-money-laundering |
| Retail | Personalised recommendations |
| Government | Smart-city planning, traffic optimisation |
| Sport | Player analytics in basketball, football |
Benefits and risks
| Benefit | Risk |
|---|---|
| Faster, better decisions | Bias in training data leads to unfair decisions |
| Automated routine work | Job displacement in some sectors |
| Personalised services | Privacy invasion through over-collection of data |
| New medical insights | Black-box decisions hard to explain |
Hong Kong context
- HKSAR Smart City Blueprint promotes AI in transport, healthcare, education.
- HKMA's open-banking initiative uses data science for credit decisions.
- Schools (e.g. HKU) offer dedicated AI / data-science programmes.
Exam-style question
Q (5 marks): Describe what AI and data science are, give one Hong Kong example of each, and explain one ethical concern.
Sample answer:
- AI builds systems performing tasks that usually need human intelligence (reasoning, learning, perception). Example in HK: face-recognition payment in some Bauhinia coffee shops.
- Data science extracts insights from large data using statistics + computing. Example in HK: HKMA's anti-fraud system analyses real-time transactions across all banks to flag suspicious activity.
- Ethical concern: AI models trained on biased data may make unfair decisions (e.g. credit scoring discriminates against under-represented groups), affecting equity and trust.
Key takeaways
- AI = systems mimicking human intelligence.
- Data science = insights from data.
- Both raise bias / privacy / job-displacement concerns.
➡️ Next: 1.2 3D Printing