In mid September 2026 during his Policy Address, Chief Executive John Lee announced the creation of an “AI City Brain” (AI城市大腦): a comprehensive, integrated urban management system. The project, which has an initial budget of HK$200 million and targets a first-phase completion by 2028, will centralise real-time data from various government departments.
Following the announcement, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki confirmed that the system will directly integrate with the Hong Kong Police Force’s “Sharp Eye” (銳眼) CCTV network. While Chan insisted the system is “absolutely not” meant for surveillance or catching criminals, the police had already secured HK$4.06 billion to massively expand the “Sharp Eye” network to 60,000 cameras by 2028, explicitly confirming the rollout of facial recognition technology. Crucially, this system extends far beyond street corners. Police have confirmed plans to integrate CCTV networks from the Housing Department (including public housing estates), the MTR transport network, and are actively negotiating the integration of privately owned surveillance cameras inside shopping malls and commercial buildings into the centralised police system. The deployment of the “AI City Brain” and the “Sharp Eye” network mirrors the extensive, data-driven mass surveillance architecture utilised in mainland Chinese cities.
Legislative protection of privacy and governance of data collection in Hong Kong is weak. Furthermore, under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO), all government departments are legally required to facilitate national security work. Therefore, any data centralised within the “AI City Brain” or captured by a shopping mall camera can be seamlessly accessed and weaponised by national security police, completely bypassing civilian data protection frameworks.