By Lo Hoi-ying

Copyright scmp

Hong Kong may introduce laws to cover the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sex crimes as part of an effort by the administration to amend the ordinance covering sexual offences by the end of its term, the security chief has said.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung also revealed on Monday that the amendments would be based on principles of not distinguishing sexual offences based on sex or sexual orientation.
Tang said the Law Reform Commission, tasked with recommending changes to the Crimes Ordinance, would look into computer-related crimes and whether the use of AI to generate sexually explicit images should be included.
He was responding to a media question over whether the amendments would cover incidents such as the recent case of a student from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) using AI tools to create pornographic images of female classmates.
“If an act is deemed unacceptable by society and cannot be dealt with by current laws, then we must improve the law to deal with it, no matter what statute we use,” Tang said.
The HKU incident came to light in July when a friend of the law student discovered a folder containing 700 images, including generated pornographic images of 20 to 30 women, on his personal laptop.

An internal investigation was conducted, and the student received a formal warning letter, but the victims said HKU’s initial response lacked meaningful accountability.
Tang earlier announced that the government planned to introduce proposed amendments to the ordinance next year, with a public consultation to follow in the first quarter.
The goal was to complete the legislative amendments within the current administration’s term, which would end in 2027, he said on Monday.
The commission launched its first consultation in 2012 and has since published two reports on the four consultations it has conducted over the past decade.
The two reports contain more than 70 recommendations covering rape and other non-consensual sexual offences, as well as sentencing.
When questioned about the length of time taken to propose the reforms, Tang said the government had been working to improve the ordinance in stages.
These steps included making voyeurism an offence in 2021 and expanding the Sexual Conviction Record Check Scheme to cover self-employed tutors and volunteers.
When asked if the government would adopt the recommendations from the commission’s 2019 and 2022 reports, such as creating new offences for child grooming, reforming incest laws and abolishing existing offences related to same-sex acts, Tang said he “broadly agreed” with most of the suggestions.
“Now is the appropriate time to consolidate more than 70 suggestions and introduce the proposed amendments,” he said.
The commission had set preliminary principles for the amended laws, which were intended to strengthen legal protection for all residents, he added.
“Going forward, there should not be a distinction based on sex in sexual offences,” he said. “The law needs to respect different forms of sexual autonomy, and residents will not be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.”