between 2013 and 2016. A majority of this
has been on AI, Wang Haifeng, head of Bai-
du’s AI platform AIG, told ChinaReport. His
career at Baidu started in 2010 with basic re-
search on natural language processing, voice
and image recognition, and he then moved
to lead a search technology team.
“A search engine is designed to try to un-
derstand the purposes of its human users;
and this is similar to the way that a machine
learns,” Wang Haifeng told ChinaReport.
He explained that deep learning improves
machines’ ability to learn, which in turn has
led to faster and more accurately customised
searching. Wang argues that Baidu’s strong
experience with its search engine is one of the
main reasons why the company has decided
to focus on AI. In July 2013, Baidu launched
its Institute of Deep Learning, the first of its
kind in China.
Much of this spending is on human re-
sources. Baidu’s statements said the 20 per-
cent and 35 percent year-on-year growth of
the R&D budget in 2016 and the first quar-
ter of 2017 was due to “personnel-related
costs.” An all-star team of AI techies work in
Baidu’s management and institutes in Beijing
and the US. Lu Qi, former global executive
of Microsoft, became Baidu’s group president
and chief operating officer in January 2017
Andrew Ng, founder of Google Brain,
Google’s deep learning project, and co-
founder of Coursera, one of the world’s lead-
ing providers of open online education plat-
forms, took on a leadership post at Baidu’s
AI research institutes in Beijing and Silicon
Valley in 2014. He told Chinese and inter-
national media in several interviews between
2014 and 2016 that he was attracted by Bai-
du’s strong commitment to AI, technological
progress and data resources. But at the end of
March, Ng announced he was leaving Baidu
to look for opportunities to use AI beyond
the world of technology.
Many other staff are highly qualified.
While working for Lab America, part of the
Japanese IT giant NEC in 2010, computer
scientist Lin Yuanqing led a team that de-
feated competitors from leading institutions
including IBM and MIT, to win the first
annual ImageNet Large Scale Visual Rec-
ognition Challenge, an iconic international
contest. Lin now serves as senior director of
Baidu’s Institute of Deep Learning. Before
joining Baidu’s institute in April 2013, Xu
Wei worked for Facebook as a research sci-
entist. He led the development of Baidu’s
open source deep learning tool PaddlePaddle,which was opened to global AI programmers
and engineers at the end of September 2016.
Baidu is looking for and training more
young talent who could become AI leaders.
Eligible candidates have to be under 30 years
old, and have demonstrated AI expertise in
particular sub-areas. Successful candidates are
offered an annual salary of US$145,000 and
career development opportunities, including
working for Baidu’s institute in Silicon Val-
ley or acting as visiting researchers at MIT or
Stanford a year after joining. The plan is for
some of them to lead a 20-30 person team
for their own innovation ventures, funded
by Baidu, after they complete three years of
service.
Baidu’s heavy investment seems to have
paid off. It has been recognised as one of
the world’s major players in voice and im-
age detecting systems, which were included
in the Top 10 Breakthrough Technologies
picked by MIT Technology Review in 2016
and 2017. “We are already seeing the power-
ful benefits of AI bear fruit across our existing
platform,” noted Robin Li in the press release
of the company’s first quarter earnings release
on April 27.All Fronts
The more than 1,600 scientists and tech-
nicians who work for Baidu’s AIG provide
AI support for all the departments of the
company. “We have distributed AI through-
out our company,” Wang Haifeng told Chi-
naReport. AI scientists, including Ng, have
stressed that AI will be part of people’s lives
without people’s knowing it. In Baidu’s case,
its AI technology is supporting all its existing
services, including search, advertising, maps,
takeout dining, safety and consumer financ-
ing. In 2016, Baidu was mocked by some In-
ternet industry insiders as a “takeout courier,”
referring to their food delivery services. In
response, Robin Li repeatedly told the media
that this business was actually backed by the
company’s AI technology to optimise couri-
ers’ delivery routes.
It is also expanding to new frontiers. At
a conference with international investmentPhoto by xinhua