SenseTime Introduces SenseChat (Cantonese) to Hong Kong Users, Delivering Localised AI Experiences Free-of-Charge

SenseTime launched its Cantonese Large Language Model tailored for the Hong Kong community at the launch of its SenseChat (Cantonese) & 10^th Anniversary Kickoff Event (the “event”) today. Held at the Hong Kong Science Park, SenseTime introduced SenseChat (Cantonese) (web version and mobile app), which will soon be available to Hong Kong users for free.

As this year marks a decade of SenseTime’s artificial intelligence (AI) innovation journey since its founding in Hong Kong, it also held a kickoff ceremony to mark its 10^th anniversary. Dr. Ge Ming, Commissioner for Industry (Innovation and Technology), and Mr. Albert Wong, Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, graced the ceremony and spoke of SenseTime’s indomitable spirit of innovation.

Dr. Ge Ming, Commissioner for Industry (Innovation and Technology), said, “As a company established in Hong Kong and the first local unicorn at the Hong Kong Science & Technology Park to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, SenseTime has upheld a spirit of enterprise, fortitude, and perseverance. In just 10 years, SenseTime has launched many original and high quality AI technologies and products. Its contributions are clear for all to see and proof of Hong Kong's immense potential in technological innovations. We look forward to SenseTime achieving even greater success in the next decade.”

Mr. Albert Wong, CEO of Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), I am very happy to have witnessed SenseTime’s growth, and their perseverance and commitment to innovation has been a common trait I have seen in successful enterprises. As a homegrown listed unicorn in Hong Kong, SenseTime’s achievements inspire us all. Its innovation journey spurs on fellow enterprises in the innovation space to constantly reach greater heights. HKSTP has always believed in supporting innovation enterprises kickstart their journey here with us and strive for limitless accomplishments. SenseTime’s exponential growth fully exemplifies the HKSTP ecosystem’s efforts in nurturing innovation. We will continue to support start-ups in their growth and we hope to be here for the birth of the next “SenseTime”.

Dr. Xu Li, Chairman of the Board and CEO of SenseTime, said, “With our journey beginning in Hong Kong a decade ago, introducing SenseChat (Cantonese) to the local community is deeply meaningful for all of us at SenseTime. Building upon the immense potential of SenseNova 5.0’s suite of innovative products, we are committed to further empowering Hong Kong’s growing AI ecosystem. As we navigate the AI 2.0 era and beyond, we will continue to harness SenseNova 5.0 and SenseCore’s robust capabilities, catalysing positive societal transformations through localised solutions.”

(From left to right) Dr. Xu Li, Chairman of the Board and CEO of SenseTime, Dr. Ge Ming, Commissioner for Industry (Innovation and Technology), and Mr. Albert Wong, CEO of Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation, at SenseTime’s kick-off ceremony for its 10^th anniversary.

At its Tech Day earlier this April, SenseTime launched the industry-leading “Cloud-to-Edge” full-stack large model product matrix and the upgraded SenseNova 5.0 large model to industry acclaim. Following which, SenseTime announced the launch of SenseNova’s Cantonese large model in quick succession, including the SenseChat (Cantonese) Large Language Model and SenseChat (Cantonese) Multimodal Large Model. It was also announced that the application programming interface (API) was available to enterprise users. Meanwhile, SenseChat (Cantonese) – including the web version and mobile app – was introduced for the first time as a free service to consumers in Hong Kong.

Mr. Lewis Fung, General Manager (Commercial), SenseTime Hong Kong, announced that the SenseChat (Cantonese) Large Language Model API has been officially launched

Profound Understanding of the Local Culture and Language   

The challenges typically faced when training large language models include insufficient data or lack of understanding of local cultures. With its multicultural society built upon Chinese culture coupled with a complex multilingual landscape, these challenges are compounded in Hong Kong. SenseTime’s SenseChat (Cantonese) Large Language Model has an in-depth understanding of the local lingo and culture, and is able to provide Hong Kong users with a more robust language model that is better aligned with their communication style. At the event, SenseTime also demonstrated the multimodal capabilities of the SenseChat (Cantonese) Large Language Model and showed that it could accurately interpret images with distinctive Hong Kong cultural characteristics.

Leveraging the core strengths and strong computing power of SenseNova 5.0, including the wide-ranging capabilities and outstanding performance of the SenseChat Large Language Model, SenseChat (Cantonese) web version and mobile app (iOS and Android versions) will be available to Hong Kong users free-of-charge soon. It is equipped with superior conversational language abilities, language database and information density. In addition to text interaction, the mobile app also supports voice conversations, as well as Cantonese text-to-speech and speech recognition functions. SenseChat (Cantonese) will provide Hong Kong users with an AI product that is proficient in Cantonese with a wide range of smart applications.

At the event, SenseTime also demonstrated the multimodal capabilities of SenseChat (Cantonese) web version. The product integrates multimodal data and the ability to interpret, process, and generate long texts. It also supports up to 50 uploaded documents and generate various content based on the user’s needs, including texts, images, codes and documents. It can efficiently manage different tasks the user requires help with, such as researching general knowledge, solving mathematical questions, analysing images and writing code.

In addition, the SenseTime Integrated Large Model (Enterprise) Device, which was first unveiled at SenseTime’s Tech Day in April, was also officially launched in Hong Kong, including the "Financial All-in-One" and "Coding All-in-One" devices. The AI-integrated devices are able to support enterprise-level acceleration of trillion-scale models and hardware acceleration for knowledge retrieval, which enables the deployment with localised languages and lowers the barrier for businesses to use large models.

As an AI industry leader founded and listed in Hong Kong, SenseTime is committed to promoting the development and applications of AI in the territory, and its products have been well-regarded by Hong Kong clients. During the event, SenseTime signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with its ecosystem partners, including Deloitte China, Geely IDC, a company under Geely Technology Group's tech innovation unit, and Hong Kong Telecom. The MOUs aim to strengthen cross-industry partnerships to cooperate in areas that include expanding the commercial applications of the SenseChat (Cantonese) large model, co-driving market expansion, and enhancing AI services and computing resources.

The signing of the MOU between Deloitte China (left) and SenseTime (right)

The signing of the MOU between Geely IDC (left) and SenseTime (right)

The signing of the MOU between HKT Limited (left) and SenseTime (right)