AI deployed to speed up handling of 1823 hotline cases

The government has announced new initiatives to enhance the efficiency of its 24-hour hotline 1823 by utilizing artificial intelligence. Acting Commissioner for Digital Policy Daniel Cheung revealed that the 1823 hotline received approximately 7.5 million calls last year. AI will be employed to streamline case triage and referral processes, as well as to identify priority cases, thereby reducing processing time from days to hours.

Cheung emphasized that the 1823 hotline serves as a vital link between the government and the public. The government has already integrated AI and other innovative technologies to bolster digital self-service capabilities and intends to introduce automation and intelligence in areas such as receiving requests, case triage, and referral, enabling frontline staff to concentrate on handling complex cases.

Deputy Commissioner for Data Governance Ng Ping-chung disclosed that the Digital Policy Office will commence a trial of agentic AI, a more sophisticated form of AI capable of autonomous action, before progressively implementing it across other government departments. Agentic AI can potentially manage multi-step processes, such as document checking, summary writing, and search, combining multiple tasks to generate a final output.

Ng stressed the importance of adopting a cautious and controlled approach when expanding agentic AI.