HKUST(GZ) Leaders Share Vision on AI-era Education, Research at WAIC 2026
The 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC), a premier global event held in Shanghai from July 17 to 20, brought together leading minds from academia and industry to explore AI's future.
At the forum titled "Reimagining the University for an AI-Driven Future", Professor Lionel M. NI, President of HKUST(GZ), engaged in a dialogue with fellow presidents from China's top universities, including Professor Song GAO, President of Peking University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor Jiecai HAN, President of Harbin Institute of Technology and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor Kuiling DING, President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor Yugang MA, President of East China Normal University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Professor Zheng YOU, President of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The dialogue was moderated by Professor Luming LI, President of Tsinghua University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Sharing HKUST(GZ)'s classroom practices, Professor Lionel NI noted that students are routinely encouraged to use AI for learning and assignments. Rather than banning such tools, he advocates that professors use AI in generating materials and developing AI teaching assistants. Through real-time interaction with AI, students can verify information instantly, while teachers utilize data analytics to tailor instruction to the pace of individuals.
Professor Lionel NI also stressed the need for students to maintain a critical perspective towards AI, and called on educators to transcend traditional roles and become true mentors in this new era.
Reflecting on the University's systemic reforms over the past four years, Professor Lionel NI highlighted its pioneering "Hubs" and "Thrusts" framework, which replaces traditional academic departments to boost interdisciplinary collaboration. He also mentioned that all new faculty at HKUST(GZ) are required to complete a semester-long training program to adapt their pedagogy to an AI-enhanced environment.
Acknowledging the challenges ahead, Professor Lionel NI identified mindset, rather than technology, as the primary hurdle, and reiterated that HKUST(GZ)'s status as a young institution gives it a unique agility to pioneer higher education innovations suited for the AI age.
All presidents participating in the dialogue concurred that while universities will not be replaced by AI, they must proactively embrace this transformation to stay relevant.
On July 18, Professor Ricky Shi-wei LEE, Vice-President (Research) of HKUST(GZ), addressed a forum on AI frontier networks, where he delivered a keynote speech. He highlighted a critical AI bottleneck: while compute power triples every two years, data transport speeds lag far behind. He pointed out that co-packaged optics (CPO) offers a promising solution by integrating optical and electronic components into a single package to shorten data pathways.
Drawing on the University's joint lab with KiwiMoore, a domestic semiconductor company, Professor Ricky LEE elaborated on CPO's evolution from 2D to 3D heterogeneous integration and presented a new high-density optoelectronic architecture. On behalf of HKUST(GZ), Professor Ricky LEE also released a CPO technology white paper co-authored with multiple industry partners, providing a much-needed reference for standardizing and commercializing optical interconnect solutions in the domestic industry.
