Request for information under the Code on Access to Information — technology, contractors and accuracy of 1823's telephone system and the Call Assistant
Dear Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau Digital Policy Office,
I am writing under the Code on Access to Information about the artificial intelligence used in the 1823 service. On 27 August 2026 the Digital Policy Office announced that 1823 operates an intelligent interactive telephony system using voice recognition, and that the "Call Assistant" project uses speech recognition and large language models to transcribe calls and generate case summaries. I would like the following records.
1. Please provide the tender documents or the contract award notice that name the contractor or contractors for the interactive telephony system and for the "Call Assistant" project.
2. Please provide the technical specification or project document that names the AI models and speech-recognition engines used by those two systems.
3. Please provide the recorded accuracy or error rate of the speech-recognition and language-model functions, and the procedure for checking or correcting a transcript before it is used to update a case record.
Scope limiter: if the records requested are not held in the form described, please provide the nearest equivalent record that is held. If you refuse any part of this request, please state the provision of the Code on Access to Information relied on.
Yours faithfully,
CHEN Zhengxian
We acknowledge receipt of your e-mail. Thank you. (The above is generated
by an auto-reply program.) Best Regards, Digital Policy Office 本辦公室已
接獲您的電郵，內容備悉。 (以上為電腦自動發出的訊息。) 數字政策辦公室
16/10/2026
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your email addressed to the Digital Policy Office (DPO). Please note that DPO has referred this case to 1823 for follow-up.
1823 is currently handling the case and will provide a substantive reply as soon as possible.
Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact us.
Best regards,
Sharon Fung
Assistant Manager
1823
(Case Ref: 3-9791557108)
Case Status Enquiry: www.1823.gov.hk/portal/en/login
Contact Us: www.1823.gov.hk/en/about-us/contact-us
Service Disclaimer: www.1823.gov.hk/en/di.shtm
30/10/2026
Dear Sir/Madam,
I refer to your email dated 11 October 2026 to the Digital Policy Office, requesting information on 1823 under The Code on Access to Information. Our response is as follows:
1823 engages Votee Limited to provide services in the development of Call Assistant project through issue of invitations to quotation to prospective service providers. The contract was not awarded through tender and thus no tender document or contract award notice is available.
The existing interactive telephony system is provided through speech-recognition software from InfoTalk Corporation Limited, which was included in the technical solution provided by the service contractor, HKT Teleservices International Limited. It is not a separate procurement and thus no tender document or contract award notice is available.
The speech-recognition engine for the Call Assistant project will be developed based on QWEN3-ASR-1.7B and Qwen3-30B-A3B AI model.
Since the Call Assistant project is still under development, the accuracy or error rate of the transcription and case summaries generated is not available. Making reference to industry practices, a word-error-rate of 15% or less for the transcription produced is required for acceptance. Upon the launch of the Call Assistant project, the case summary generated from the transcription of the calls will be checked by the 1823 staff for further processing. The accuracy rate for the speech-recognition engine adopted in the existing interactive telephony system is maintained at no less than 90%.
Best regards,
Sharon Fung
Assistant Manager
1823
(Case Ref: 3-9791557108)
Case Status Enquiry: www.1823.gov.hk/portal/en/login
Contact Us: www.1823.gov.hk/en/about-us/contact-us
Service Disclaimer: www.1823.gov.hk/en/di.shtm