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Hong Kong's startup and SME crowd doesn't have time for "AI transformation workshops." Between chasing clients, dealing with rent, and trying to stand out in a city moving at caffeine-speed, adoption only happens when a tool genuinely saves time (and money). The real magic is in tools that actually help you work smarter every day.
The Reality of AI at Work in Hong Kong
AI is no longer just for the tech boys in Cyberport or the lab geniuses at Science Park. From small creative agencies in Sheung Wan to fintech startups in Kwun Tong, AI has quietly crept into the workflow. The smartest teams? They're using AI tools that fit naturally into their daily grind, no PhDs required.
We asked our members what's actually making a difference in their day-to-day:
Here's what they're using:
ChatGPT or Perplexity – The city's new research assistant. Used for client proposals, email drafts, and that 2 a.m. deck rewrite before a board meeting. Access natively or via VPN/Poe.com for ChatGPT.
Gamma – The clear winner for whipping up pitch decks, presentations and last-minute ideas to share at meetings.
Canva's Magic Studio – Go-to for social posts, pitch decks, and last-minute visuals when there's no designer in sight.
Claude – Developers' secret weapon for code reviews, debugging, and writing boilerplate faster than Stack Overflow. Access via VPN/Poe.com
Notion AI – For project planning, idea dumps, and pretending your team's notes are more organised than they really are.
Granola/Fireflies.ai/Google – Meeting note-taking, sorted.
Gemini – Integrated into everything Google does. Sometimes less useful than imagined, though the latest 3.0 release is turning heads.
Why SMEs Can Actually Benefit Faster Than Corporates
While big companies are still arguing about data privacy policies, startups and SMEs have the agility advantage. You can test an AI workflow overnight, iterate, and run with what works. For founders juggling five roles, AI is your new unpaid intern—one who never complains, pulls all-nighters, and scales with your energy (or lack thereof).
The trick is not to "adopt AI," but to integrate it where it hurts most: automating admin, drafting faster proposals, or getting insights from data without hiring a full analytics team.
How to Choose Tools You'll Actually Use
Start where the friction is highest. If scheduling, content creation, or tracking performance eats your hours, use AI there first.
Keep it lightweight. Fancy enterprise tools sound cool, but they're often overkill for teams under 20 people.
Train your team by doing, not learning. Throw a problem at the tool during your next team meeting—it'll stick faster than any manual.
Add your data later. Start with public versions, then customise with your brand tone or workflows once you trust the system.
The Hong Kong Edge
In true Hong Kong fashion, teams here adopt fast when results are visible. Coworking spaces, freelancers, and marketing startups are already quietly powered by AI—their clients don't even notice; they just see better deliverables, faster turnaround, and fewer "still working on it" responses.
And that's the point. AI doesn't have to feel revolutionary. It just needs to free up your Thursday night so you can finally make that dinner in Causeway Bay.
