"Lobsters" — have you figured out how to raise them? Join us on the shores of Hong Kong to discuss AI safety governance

Summit returns to Hong Kong with AI agents on the agenda

The World Internet Conference Asia‑Pacific Summit (世界互联网大会·亚太峰会) will convene in Hong Kong on April 13–14, 2026, returning to the city for a second consecutive year. The headline session this year is the Intelligent Agent Innovation and Application Forum, which frames a pressing question in plain language — "Lobsters" — have you figured out how to raise them? That metaphor captures a practical anxiety: how do societies cultivate autonomous AI systems so they behave reliably and benefit industry?

From lab concept to economic reality

Chinese organisers describe intelligent agents (智能体, or AI agents) as systems that can understand goals, plan paths, call tools and complete complex tasks independently. The forum is set to probe multi‑agent collaboration, real‑world applications across manufacturing, logistics and services, and how these systems can raise productivity in traditional industries. Safety and governance are explicitly on the docket: the conversation is shifting from technical novelty to deployment choices that affect firms, workers and consumers.

Governance in a tense geopolitical landscape

All of this is happening against a backdrop of heightened US–China tech competition, export controls on advanced chips, and intensified scrutiny of AI risk worldwide. Observers will watch Hong Kong for signs of converging norms — or widening gaps — on issues such as cross‑border data flows, auditing of agent behaviour, and limits on dual‑use capabilities. Who sets the rules? And who enforces them? Those are as important as the technical demos.

Stakes and questions

The summit promises a mix of demos, policy debate and industry case studies aimed at pushing "the next generation of human‑machine collaboration." Will regulators, engineers and businesses agree on practical guardrails before agents proliferate widely? Or will the lobster‑raising problem — nurturing powerful systems without losing control — remain a thought experiment? Hong Kong will be the place to watch for early answers.