Hong Kong's HKGAI launches HKLearn higher-education AI assistant, over 3,000 students register at HKUST

On September 22, the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center (HKGAI) launched HKLearn, an AI teaching and learning assistant for higher education, first at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where the campus version is called HKUST Teaching Agent. More than 3,000 students registered and over 240,000 learning materials were uploaded. Powered by the locally developed HKGAI V3 model, the system covers more than 1,280 courses, and HKGAI plans to extend trials to other Hong Kong tertiary institutions.

This is a scaled attempt by an InnoHK research institution to apply a local large model in higher education, directly changing how university students access materials and review, and offering instructors a teaching-data entry point. Its replicability depends on expansion from HKUST to other institutions and on the actual effect of data feeding back into teaching. Public information so far covers only registration numbers, uploaded materials and course counts, with no independent research validating learning outcomes. HKUST students can use HKLearn to sync syllabi, lecture notes and reading materials, and generate quizzes, flashcards and other review tools. HKGAI plans to extend trials to other Hong Kong tertiary institutions, which would broaden adoption of local AI education tools if realized.