Cover Bryant Lu, vice-chairman, Ronald Lu & Partners, and founder and chairman, Behave—featured in the Tatler Leadership AI Coalition (Photo: Ken Leung)
Bryant Lu, vice-chairman, Ronald Lu & Partners, and founder and chairman, Behave—featured in the Tatler Leadership AI Coalition (Photo: Ken Leung)
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AI breaks new ground every week. Six Hong Kong executives—from McDonald’s to J.P. Morgan—explain to Tatler why AI literacy, humility, curiosity and “the human touch” matter more than ever
Well-known as a pioneer of sustainable architecture, the Hong Kong design practice Ronald Lu & Partners (RLP Asia) says 80 per cent of its projects are certified eco-friendly—including landmark developments across Hong Kong like the CIC-Zero Carbon Park in Kowloon, Victoria Dockside in Tsim Sha Tsui, and The Henderson building in Central. The firm has won more than 600 awards, 97 of which recognise sustainability-related efforts.
Why, then, is RLP Asia embracing AI, which depends on increasingly resource-intensive infrastructure? Simply put, AI has empowered staff to focus on “brain work, not busywork”, says Bryant Lu, the vice-chairman of RLP Asia and founder of its research arm, Behave.
Above Bryant Lu, vice-chairman, Ronald Lu & Partners, and founder and chairman, Behave (Photo: supplied)
Bryant Lu, vice-chairman, Ronald Lu & Partners, and founder and chairman, Behave (Photo: supplied)
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Working alongside his father, Ronald Lu, who founded the firm in 1976, the younger Lu—a Tatler Most Influential honouree—has helped spearhead an overall AI approach for the company. “A lot of our work involves project management, documentation, contract running; all these aspects most people don’t see in our profession,” he says.
For these non-creative tasks, which can account for 60 to 70 per cent of a project’s execution stages, AI has proven remarkably useful. Specific design options benefit from a process called rapid prototyping. “It used to take three days to generate three [design] options,” Lu says. “Now, it can take you three hours to generate 20 options.”
Read more: Meet Randy Lai: the McDonald’s Hong Kong CEO on leveraging AI for fast food experiences
The Cornell alum delivers talks at universities around Hong Kong on the “transformative role of AI in architecture”, covering how its usage can streamline complex, data-intensive processes, from smart contracts to administrative tasks. There is a natural trade-off with energy, but “any data centre, any processing power will consume more and more energy,” says Lu. “So the question is, where does the energy come from? Is it green? Is it sustainable?” Finding an answer is now a matter of “how we balance it all out”.
“At least within the Hong Kong context, we are fortunate to be a very developed society, very resource-rich society that we have access to all these technologies,” Lu says. “I think it creates a whole new horizon for what can be done.”
Read more: Meet Christine Ip: the UOB banking veteran and lifelong ‘early learner’ now embracing AI skills
Lu recognises that speed and volume do not equal craft. “Solutions become very cheap to have, but it doesn’t mean they’re quality solutions,” he notes. “Most of it is slop, because garbage in, garbage out. You need to prompt it right—you need to have the right database, the right context.” Learning how to create the right prompt involves “more discipline, and more active thinking; more slowing down”.
Navigating AI usage requires continuous learning, he says; he stays on top of best practices with Preface’s classes. The Lu family takes classes on AI with the tech enablement company Preface, including private tutoring sessions; in July, Bryant Lu participated in an programme jointly hosted by business school INSEAD and Preface. “Knowing what you don’t know is half the battle,” he says. “The minute you think you know everything, then it’s the beginning of the end.”
What AI software cannot take on in the long run is having a person behind every creative decision—good or bad. While these tools can easily generate options, “architecture and design is very human, very personal,” Lu says. “Someone needs to be made accountable. I can’t just say, ‘Oh, AI said this is better.’”
Making human-centred decisions ultimately requires leaders to make a “conscious choice” to confront technological change head-on. “We have to face it. Do we have the courage to face it?” Lu asks. “Courage starts with understanding, and then courage starts with hope.”
In collaboration with Preface, a Hong Kong-based tech content and training company that helps people understand and navigate technology in today’s fast-changing world, Tatler presents the AI Leadership coalition: six industry heavyweights who are redefining what it means to lead today. Read the full cover story here.
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Cat Wang is an editor at Tatler Asia based in Hong Kong, where she covers business, wealth, innovation, and impact. Previously, she was a Forbes Asia reporter and assistant editor of the Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list, spotlighting startups and small companies on the rise across the Asia-Pacific. She began her career as a trainee reporter at the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s newspaper of record. Born in New York City, she graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a B.A. in political science.
