Artificial intelligence (AI) will empower humans to focus on more meaningful work, experts said on the second day of the FII Priority Hong Kong Summit.

Speaking at a panel discussion featuring AI’s impact on jobs, Edith Yeung, General Partner at Race Capital, said the new technology will “free humans from repetitive and mundane tasks” so that they can pursue more sophisticated projects.

“One thing for sure is that we’re not going to be replaced by AI. But all of us will be replaced by humans who know how to use AI. The key thing here is really about how we make sure that we have the skills, not the jobs,” she said.

Separately, Andres Felipe Chaves Cortes, CEO of robotic company Kiwibot, said he believes the adoption of artificial intelligence as well as robotics will help tackle a labour shortage in Asia, which is facing a serious aging population problem.

He pointed out that the new technology has enormous potential, but there needs to be a proper regulatory regime in place.

“Regulation and understanding is very important. So I advocate regulating it and understanding it, but definitely to promote it,” he said.

“There are a lot of problems to solve in the developing world and emerging markets. There is still a lot of infrastructure to build, a lot of nutrition problems to solve. AI and robotics are part of that solution.”