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Eric Jiang

More than 70 per cent of Hong Kong working professionals use artificial intelligence (AI) tools on a daily or weekly basis, more than double the global average, but junior staff also harbour deeper anxiety over job security amid its growing adoption, a survey has found.
The study conducted by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) surveyed 3,722 working professionals in the city between March and April this year, with more than 60 per cent of them aged between 30 and 49.
About 72.7 per cent of respondents said they used AI tools at work on a daily or weekly basis, compared with a global average of 31 per cent cited in a 2025 KPMG study.
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini were the most widely adopted, used by 81.7 per cent of these AI users, mainly for drafting documents, summarising information and supporting creative work.
However, only about a quarter of respondents regularly used more advanced AI applications, such as data analytics, image or video generation tools, or agentic AI systems capable of executing multi-step tasks with little human oversight.
The HKUST survey also found that perceptions and expectations varied among staff at different levels.
While about 70 per cent of senior managers said AI had increased their motivation to learn new skills, more than half of junior-level employees said they worried it could erode the value of their existing skills.
About 40 per cent of juniors even said it had left them feeling less secure in their jobs.

In terms of industries, respondents in media and communications, financial services, and scientific and technical services reported the highest levels of concern about their job security.
Despite widespread use, nearly 60 per cent of respondents reported that they had never received any AI training, while 73 per cent were unaware of government AI-related policies, guidance and regulations.
Professor Tam Kar-Yan, HKUST’s vice-president for administration and business, said Hong Kong’s workplaces had entered “a new phase of AI adoption” in which the tool was becoming part of daily work rather than an emerging technology.
He said nearly 60 per cent of respondents believed AI-driven changes to their jobs had already begun or would occur within five years.
But he stressed that outright job losses had yet to happen, since most companies were still in the early stages of adopting the technology.
“Successfully advancing Hong Kong’s ‘AI+’ agenda will depend not only on accelerating technology adoption, but also on ensuring that no segment of the workforce is left behind,” Tam said.
He suggested that employers help their staff reskill through targeted AI training tailored to their job functions rather than general education.
Employees potentially affected by the rise of AI should also actively communicate with supervisors to participate in other tasks and accept related training, Tam added.

Louis Vuitton management trainee Agnes Lam Chiu-ki, who graduated from HKUST in 2023, said her company has published its own AI platform called “MalA”.
The software could help employees with tasks such as translation, product information consolidation and visual content creation, she said.
But Lam said the retail industry was still a human-centric sector built on personal interaction and service excellence.
She pointed to how roles such as customer service positions allowed staff to offer emotional support and express understanding, which AI could not do when responding to consumers’ complaints and inquiries.
Fellow graduate Niki Ho Sze-nok, who joined Deutsche Telekom as a business development manager, said AI could help her with time-consuming tasks, including gathering information, conducting primary analysis and drafting reports.
Ho added that she could make use of the time saved to communicate with potential business partners and learn more about the market on her own.
“I think AI is not replacing specialists, but helping us so that we can put more energy into tasks that need people interactions and strategic thinking,” she said.


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But HKUST study also finds that junior employees harbour deeper anxiety over job security amid AI’s growing adoption


But HKUST study also finds that junior employees harbour deeper anxiety over job security amid AI’s growing adoption.


72% of Hong Kong professionals regularly use AI, double global average: survey

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}But HKUST study also finds that junior employees harbour deeper anxiety over job security amid AI’s growing adoption

But HKUST study also finds that junior employees harbour deeper anxiety over job security amid AI’s growing adoption