Floppy Disks, Language Models & the I-Ching (Cantonese)

Dr. Bruce Cheung (張維) — Head of the College of Life Sciences and Technology at HKU SPACE. One of Hong Kong's first generation of AI researchers, graduating from HKU's Computer Science programme in 1985. PhD in AI under a UCLA department head who came to Hong Kong. Has worked on language models since the 1980s, from statistical language models (SLM) on floppy disks to today's LLM era. Bridges AI with law and education, involved in Hong Kong's legal and education AI communities.

Chapters

1. 0:00Intro
2. 2:28Meet Dr. Bruce — HKU 1985, first CS graduates
3. 4:04Language models on floppy disks — SLM before LLM
4. 5:37HK universities — world-class in AI since the 80s
5. 7:29Why AI feels sudden — compute, data, network
6. 8:02AI in the 90s — MTR scheduling & e-learning
7. 11:27AI tools — Gemini, Grok, Claude, Baidu
8. 14:25ChatGPT in universities — ban or embrace?
9. 17:04The oral exam trick — defend your AI homework
10. 18:26AI access in HK — OpenAI & Claude getting harder
11. 19:07AI sovereignty — chips, data centres & HK as bridge
12. 30:44Buddhism meets AI — deep learning for humans
13. 38:55Wuxia & AI — Dugu Qiubai's internal strength
14. 41:05ADHD in the AI age — mindfulness as a fix
15. 49:00AI as the great divider — the 5% who thrive
16. 53:00The I-Ching as bones for AI thinking
17. 1:01:43Outro

About This Episode

Dr. Bruce Cheung (張維) has been doing AI in Hong Kong since before most people had a computer. One of the first Computer Science graduates from HKU in 1985, he built statistical language models on floppy disks using LISP and Prolog — decades before anyone said 'LLM.' Now Head of the College of Life Sciences and Technology at HKU SPACE, he bridges AI with law and education, arguing that Hong Kong's universities have been quietly world-class in AI research since the 1980s while the public only noticed when ChatGPT arrived. Plus: why Manus costs too much, whether Gemini will ever serve Hong Kong, ADHD in the AI age, and Aug's theory that the I-Ching is the 'bones' for structured AI thinking — which Bruce agrees with.