On the evening of 10 May, the Division of Culture and Creativity (DCC) held a high table dinner. Over 100 teachers and students from DCC were invited to join, including Associate Vice President of UIC and Acting Dean of DCC, Prof Lilian Kwan, and Hong Kong Baptist University Associate Vice President, Prof Huang Yu. Prof Huang was the guest speaker for the night, and his speech was titled "Trends of New Media Development: A Global Perspective”, which aimed to guide and inspire the DCC Year Four students who are about to graduate.
Prof Lilian Kwan leads a toast
In his speech, Prof Huang introduced the developments of the new media industry and artificial intelligence in recent years, while also discussing the impact of these technologies in the present and future.
Professor Huang said that with the development and popularization of smart phones, new media has fully integrated into people’s life, especially social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and WeChat; they have become the most popular new media platforms in the world.
Prof Huang Yu gives the keynote address
In addition to social media, Prof Huang also mentioned the development of mass media and other forms of new media. Furthermore, Professor Huang talked about the new developments and changes in traditional media in the era of big data, such as radio and television.
After talking about new media, Prof Huang turned his perspective to a new emerging technology industry—artificial intelligence. Prof Huang said that many ideas about artificial intelligence came along with the diversification of communication channels. For example, should AI have human rights? Can human beings marry robots? Will AI eventually take the place of mankind?
For the above issues, Professor Huang did not give a clear answer, but discussed two examples of artificial intelligence. The first was Sofia—the world's first AI robot that got citizenship in Saudi Arabia. Next, he discussed TEO, an Italian intelligent robot with who plays piano at a professional level. Professor Huang claimed that, obviously, AI already has great achievement in some fields. Additionally, some Chinese technology companies like Tencent and Xiaomi Inc. have also developed many ‘smart’ products that use AI in daily life.
Professor Huang said that the development of new media and artificial intelligence is doomed to have a great impact on our life. However, many new employment opportunities are produced by these technologies, which are closely related to DCC's majors. Therefore, both new media and AI present opportunities and challenges for the students of DCC.
Reporter: Wu Huafeng (Y3, ATS)
Photographer: Yao Zihong (Y1, FST)
Editors: Samantha Burns, Deen He
(from MPRO)
