In a keynote speech at the Corporate Governance Conference 2026, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Chairman Dr Kelvin Wong called on company boards to treat artificial intelligence as a governance and directors’ duties issue rather than an IT project. He said boards should retain identifiable human accountability and build their approach around governance, culture and competence, noting that almost nine in 10 issuers reference AI in disclosures but fewer than 20% report structured governance frameworks with clear oversight and lifecycle controls. Wong said every director needs baseline AI literacy, while directors with relevant technology, data, cybersecurity or AI responsibilities face a higher standard under their duty of care, skill and diligence. Boards should approve firmwide AI guidelines, assign ownership, integrate AI into enterprise risk management and receive internal reporting on material deployments, risks, performance, incidents and remediation. They should also apply capital discipline to AI investment, measure value and control outcomes rather than spending or rollout alone, and align incentives with safe experimentation, early risk escalation and timely remediation. The message reinforces the SFC’s recent focus on clarifying governance and human oversight expectations as AI capabilities develop.

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