PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Chaak Ming Lau

Also known as 劉擇明, Chaak, 阿擇

Chaak Ming Lau is a linguist and digital humanities researcher whose AI work develops language tools and tests language models for Cantonese. He studied cognitive science at The University of Hong Kong, earned an MPhil in linguistics there in 2009, and completed a PhD in Chinese Language and Literature at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019. His career has included Words.hk, CantoSounds, the PyCantonese library, text-to-speech for Waitau and Hakka, and studies of ChatGPT sentiment analysis and Cantonese LLMs. He is an assistant professor and director of a research centre at The Education University of Hong Kong, and president of the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong for 2026–2027.

Now at
The Education University of Hong Kong and Linguistic Society of Hong Kong
Works
13
Citations
7
h-index
2

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2009

    An MPhil in linguistics

    At The University of Hong Kong, he studies cognitive science and earns an MPhil in linguistics in 2009.

  2. 2014

    Launching Words.hk

    In 2014, he founds Words.hk, an online Cantonese dictionary. By 2021, it has more than 50,000 word entries and over 500 volunteers.

  3. 2016

    CantoSounds for exchange students

    By 2016, he is a part-time lecturer at The University of Hong Kong's School of Chinese and develops CantoSounds, a gamified platform that gives exchange students self-learning resources.

  4. 2019

    A PhD on Cantonese syntax

    He completes a PhD in Chinese Language and Literature at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019 with a thesis on the structure of Cantonese sentence-final particles.

  5. 2022

    The PyCantonese NLP library

    With colleagues, he coauthors the 2022 LREC paper PyCantonese, which introduces an open-source Python library for Cantonese linguistics and natural language processing.

  6. 2022–2024

    HKILang TTS and ChatGPT

    His 2022–2024 work includes a text-to-speech project for Hong Kong's Wai Tau and Hakka dialects. He develops the public HKILang TTS service, which uses a transformer-based engine for Waitau and Hakka, and coauthors a 2024 study comparing GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 for Cantonese sentiment analysis.

  7. 2025–2026

    HKCanto-Eval and CantoneseLLM v2

    He coauthors HKCanto-Eval, a 2025 benchmark for Cantonese language understanding and cultural comprehension in large language models. In 2026, he coauthors the release of CantoneseLLM v2, with models based on Qwen3 8B and 30B-A3B.

  8. As of October 2026

    President of the Linguistic Society

    He is a linguist specializing in digital humanities. He is an assistant professor in The Education University of Hong Kong's Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies and directs its Centre for Research on Linguistics and Language Studies. He also serves as president of the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong for 2026–2027.

Career

  1. Since 2026Linguistic Society of Hong KongPresident
  2. Since 2022The Education University of Hong KongAssistant Professor
  3. 2016University of Hong KongPart-time Lecturer

Education

  1. 2019Chinese University of Hong KongPhD in Chinese Language and Literature
  2. 2009University of Hong KongMPhil in linguistics

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Measuring the Semantic Priming Effect Across Many Languages2021 · 5 citations
  2. PyCantonese: Cantonese Linguistics and NLP in Python2022 · Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC) · 2 citations
  3. CantoneseLLM v2: Reasoning in a Low-Resource Language2026 · 0 citations
  4. Development of Cantonese writing tradition in the past two centuries2016 · 0 citations
  5. Does Autofiction in English Exist? Generic and Narrative Measures2026 · 0 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Chinese University of Hong Kong. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Hong Kong. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes University of Hong Kong. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  4. Stanford University trained or employed 26 of the 108 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Chinese University of Hong Kong. Stanford University trained or employed 26 of the 108 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Chaak Ming Lau yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Chaak-Ming Lau chaak.net. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Hong Kong's youth losing interest in Cantonese in favour of English and Mandarin youngpostclub.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. School of Cantonese Studies 2021 eduhk.hk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. The Power of Games: Gamifying Cantonese Learning for Exchange Students tl.hku.hk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. Experience - Chaak-ming Lau chaak.net. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. PyCantonese: Cantonese Linguistics and NLP in Python aclanthology.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. Efficacy of ChatGPT in Cantonese sentiment analysis: Comparative study repository.eduhk.hk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  8. Output - Chaak-ming Lau chaak.net. Checked 18 October 2026.
  9. HKCanto-Eval: A Benchmark for Evaluating Cantonese Language Understanding and Cultural Comprehension in LLMs arxiv.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  10. CantoneseLLM v2: Reasoning in a Low-Resource Language arxiv.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  11. Executive Committee - The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong lshk.org. Checked 18 October 2026.