Hong Kong's burgeoning artificial intelligence sector will receive a boost from the expansion of a scheme for talented mainland professionals, an industry figure said.

The talent endorsement policy covers cities in the Greater Bay Area, Beijing and Shanghai.

From Wednesday, its coverage will be expanded to the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions, as well as all pilot free-trade zones across the country.

Under the policy, those eligible can apply for a multiple-exit-entry endorsement to and from Hong Kong and Macau that is valid for one to five years and stays of up to 30 days each time.

Speaking on RTHK on Tuesday, Leonard Chan, founding chairman of the non-profit Hong Kong Innovative Technology Development Association, believes AI organisations and professionals will consider moving to Hong Kong or the Greater Bay Area because of the policy change.

"The compliance cost of machine learning in Hong Kong is the lowest in the world," he said.

"Many places have a lot of strict laws and regulations that people must fulfil before they can carry out such activities."

Chan added that the scheme provides flexibility for mainland talent because there's no need for them to plan their itineraries in advance.

The Hong Kong government welcomed the move.

It noted that as of October, more than 74,000 visitors had headed to the SAR under the talent endorsement policy since it was first rolled out in February 2023.

"The current measure of expanding the application of the talent exit endorsement will attract and bring more mainland talents to Hong Kong for exchanges, thereby enhancing Hong Kong's attractiveness in pooling talents and strengthening its unique role as the country's international talent hub," it said in a statement.