Microsoft puts AI in Hong Kong primary school, commits to expansion as OpenAI pulls back

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US technology giant Microsoft is showing a long-term commitment to providing generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) services Hong Kong with educational initiatives as its investee OpenAI restricts access in the city and mainland China.

In its latest push into classrooms, Microsoft worked with the Education University of Hong Kong Jockey Club Primary School to provide AI services starting from last academic year that ended in June. About 220 pupils in grades 5 and 6 were given access to Microsoft’s chatbot and text-to-image generation tools – powered by OpenAI’s GPT and Dall-E models – in science classes.

The partnership comes after Microsoft reached deals with eight universities in Hong Kong last year to promote its AI services. The US tech giant’s K-12 expansion comes through its global training partner Gamenoodlesoup, an education and entertainment technology developer. Anderson Yu, the founder of Gamenoodlesoup, said his firm has worked with the school since April 2023 to fit Microsoft Azure cloud services to the school’s specific needs