Kai-Fu Lee

Kai-Fu Lee is a Taiwanese businessman, computer scientist, investor, and author currently based in Beijing, China. With a distinguished career in the tech industry, Lee has held executive roles at major companies, including Apple, SGI, Microsoft, and Google. His tenure at Microsoft was particularly notable, as he became embroiled in a high-profile legal dispute between Google and Microsoft in 2005 over a non-compete agreement he signed when joining Microsoft as vice president of interactive services.

Lee played a pivotal role in shaping the Chinese tech landscape as the founding director of Microsoft Research Asia from 1998 to 2000 and later as the president of Google China from 2005 until 2009. After leaving Google, he founded Sinovation Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in technology companies in China. Additionally, he created the educational platform Wǒxuéwǎng, aimed at empowering young Chinese students and professionals, and authored “10 Letters to Chinese College Students,” providing guidance for academic and career success.

In his influential 2018 book, *AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order*, Lee discusses China’s rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to surpass the United States in this field. He emphasizes that while AI can perform many tasks, it will never achieve true creativity or empathy. Lee is also a prominent micro-blogger on Sina Weibo, boasting over 50 million followers.

In March 2023, Lee founded 01.AI, an artificial intelligence startup dedicated to developing large language models (LLMs) tailored for the Chinese market. In November 2023, the company released its first LLM, Yi-34B, further solidifying Lee’s role as a key player in the evolving landscape of AI technology.