Tang Xiao’ou: Billionaire in Artificial Intelligence Industry

Overview

Tang Xiao’ou is a renowned entrepreneur and researcher in the fields of computer vision and artificial intelligence. He is the founder and CEO of SenseTime, a leading AI company based in China. With his pioneering work in deep learning and computer vision, Tang has been recognized as one of the most influential figures in the global AI industry. His company SenseTime has established partnerships with top-tier companies like Qualcomm, Honda, and Alibaba, and raised over $2 billion in funding from investors.

Early Life and Education

Tang Xiao’ou was born in Jiangsu province, China, in 1968. He grew up in a family of academics, where both his parents were professors of Chinese literature. As a child, Tang showed great interest in science and technology, and spent much of his time tinkering with electronic devices.

In 1985, Tang enrolled in the Department of Information Science and Electronic Engineering at Zhejiang University, one of China’s top universities. There, he became fascinated with computer vision, a field that aims to enable computers to interpret and understand visual information like humans do. He pursued a Ph.D. in the field at the University of Maryland, USA, where he studied under Professor Larry S. Davis, a leading authority in computer vision.

Career and Achievements

After completing his Ph.D. in 1996, Tang joined the faculty of the Department of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). There, he continued his research in computer vision, focusing on areas such as pattern recognition, image processing, and machine learning.

In 2000, Tang co-founded the Information Science and Technology Center (ISTC) at CUHK, which aimed to promote interdisciplinary research in information science. The center became a hub for researchers from various fields, including computer science, mathematics, physics, and neuroscience.

In 2014, Tang started SenseTime, a company that specializes in facial recognition, object detection, and other AI technologies. His goal was to apply his research in computer vision to practical applications and commercialize them. Within a few years, SenseTime became one of the fastest-growing AI startups in the world, with clients spanning industries like finance, education, healthcare, and entertainment.

Tang’s work has been widely recognized in the AI community. He has published over 200 research papers in top-tier journals and conferences, and received numerous awards and honors, including the IEEE Fellow and the ACM Fellow.

Personal Life

Tang Xiao’ou is known for his low-key and humble personality, despite his enormous success in the tech industry. He is married and has two children.

Profile