Who created AI app MediSafe? Hong Kong student and US software firm stake claims

Two Hong Kong government departments have launched an investigation into an award-winning medication prescription app invented by a student that had already been in use by a clinic three years earlier, the Post has learned.

The Digital Policy Office and Education Bureau said they were studying the mobile app that a student surnamed Poon, from St Paul’s Co-educational College in Mid-Levels, submitted in competitions as her invention.

Poon declined to respond to online accusations calling her “a fake inventor”, but told the Post she was going through the verification process with competition organisers.

Her father, Ronnie Poon Tung-ping, is one of two doctors at a specialist clinic in Central that commissioned a US-based artificial intelligence (AI) software development agency to create the app in 2022, which was subsequently deployed.

The investigations were launched after the incident came to light on June 13, prompted by City University student Hailey Cheng, who raised concerns on social media platform Threads about the research and development culture in secondary schools’ STEM education and competitions, as well as the privacy of patients using the MediSafe app.

MediSafe, a medication management system designed to prevent prescription errors through AI-driven verification of patient information, has won at least six awards since August last year.

The honours include a silver medal in the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions, Geneva, in 2025, a prestigious globally recognised accolade.