Another top scientist has died suddenly.
According to Tencent News, Tang Xiaoou, chairman of SenseTime Technology and artificial intelligence scientist, unfortunately passed away in his sleep on December 15.
Tang Xiaoou's unfortunate death has also attracted mourning from people in the industry. On the afternoon of December 16, Shang Hailong, general manager of SenseTime Hong Kong, said in his circle of friends that the fall of the superstar was jealous of the talent and mourned.
Tang Xiaoou, the founder of SenseTime, has extensive influence and contributions in the field of artificial intelligence, and he is known as the "pioneer" and "pathfinder" of the world's face recognition technology by the industry. As early as 1992, when Tang Xiaoou was studying for a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, he focused on computer vision technology.
In 2001, Tang Xiaoou established the Multimedia Laboratory of Chinese University of Hong Kong, which successfully ranked among the world's top ten artificial intelligence pioneer laboratories and was known as the "technological highland" of artificial intelligence in the world. In SenseTime, it has more than 150 doctoral students from prestigious universities all over the world, becoming a veritable "giant scientist".
Tang Xiaoou's contribution to the development of artificial intelligence is mainly reflected in his research and innovation. His research achievements involve computer vision, image processing, face recognition and other fields, and promote the development of artificial intelligence technology.
Professor Tang is not only the teacher of the founder of Megvii Technology, but also the teacher of He Kaiming, and the GaussianFace face recognition algorithm released by Professor Tang's team in March 2014 broke through the human eye recognition ability for the first time in the world. Since June 2014, Professor Tang's team has published the DeepID series of algorithms, which have gradually improved the accuracy rate of face recognition to 99.55%, opening the era of technology implementation in the entire face recognition industry. It can be said that he has single-handedly changed the development of the domestic computer vision field.
He has led the SenseTime team to develop a series of leading AI products and solutions, ranging from facial recognition systems to intelligent transportation systems, which have achieved remarkable results in practical applications and provided valuable experience and reference for the commercial application of AI.
This is also why, the current reaction of netizens is to express regret, thinking that this is a doer, a pioneer and pathfinder of global face recognition, and a leader in scientific research, and it is regrettable that the country has lost its pillars.
In recent years, many of China's cutting-edge technology leaders have died "accidentally" one by one, and in the field of AI, in addition to Tang Xiaoou, the founder of SenseTime, Sun Jian, the former chief scientist of Megvii, and Feng Yanghe, an expert in the field of command and control and artificial intelligence, are all the same.
From the current point of view, the death of Tang Xiaoou, the founder of SenseTime, does not even have a cause of death. Some netizens said: "To be honest, it's a bit of a to die of overwork, I've seen programmers die of overwork, I really haven't seen the chairman of the company, VP, who still has to die of overwork, every day the manager has a meeting, and he doesn't have to stay up late to write code, where is the labor, it is equivalent to telling you that Ma Yun Ma Huateng and Liu Qiangdong are overworked, does anyone believe it?"
It is worth paying attention to whether this is accidental, accidental or there are other reasons behind this.
If you still remember, on June 23 this year, Professor Zhang Dabing of Shanghai Jiao Tong University suffered a major traffic accident and died at the age of 56. The main direction of Professor Zhang's research is GMO safety. His research provides important technical support for the safety management of agricultural genetically modified organisms and the trade of agricultural products in mainland China.
Also this year, Professor Feng Yanghe, a chief military scientist in the field of China's intelligence involving major national security top secrets, he was only 38 years old, died in a bizarre car accident in July this year, the reason for Professor Feng's death was because he worked overtime until late at night, and there was an urgent task in his body, so he had to take an online taxi to the airport overnight on the way, it is said that because of the fatigue driving of the drop car driver, there was a car accident, and Professor Feng unfortunately died.
From the perspective of great power competition, the battlefield where major powers "win or lose, but also decide life and death" is artificial intelligence. In addition to military experts, countries are competing for artificial intelligence experts. Feng Yanghe graduated from the military academy "Seven Sons of National Defense", is an associate professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Systems Engineering of the National University of Defense Technology, public information shows that Feng Yanghe hopes to use artificial intelligence technology to assist "battlefield command" and become a "super brain" to assist commanders and fighters.
Four-star General Philip Davidson, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, once said that China has a "very advanced intelligent system" that can simulate and predict U.S. military operations in the Asia-Pacific region and give optimal countermeasures. At the same time, senior US military leaders warned that the United States could "lose its military-technological superiority in the coming years" if China jumps to overtake the United States with artificial intelligence systems.
And now Tang Xiaoou, the founder of SenseTime, who has passed away, and Sun Jian, the former chief scientist of the late Megvii, are both leaders in the field of AI.
Everyone knows that SenseTime does AI, but the industry is very concerned about SenseTime's AIDC, which is now often referred to as the intelligent computing center, which has only begun large-scale construction in the industry this year, and SenseTime has been laying out at least 3 years ago, which can be said to be very far-sighted.
Moreover, this kind of slow-return heavy investment in infrastructure construction can only be done by big bosses. Now is the field where artificial intelligence has just entered the field of application popularization, and it is also the time for SenseTime to make a big difference.
Some industry insiders said: Yesterday, I also saw friends from SenseTime and Shanghai AI Lab excitedly sharing their latest progress in the field of large models, and they are all the first echelon players of large models in China. At this critical moment, Tang Xiaoou passed away unexpectedly.
Why is it just an accident between top experts and scientists in the field of artificial intelligence?
The existence of this kind of top scientist is the key link for us to seize the commanding heights in the future scientific and technological competition, and the loss of a top scientist is likely to lead to the progress of key scientific research being blocked, and the relevant layout and technology landing will be delayed.
In the face of major changes unseen in a century, domestic and international contradictions are intertwined, many things must be prepared for the worst, and the best preparations should be made to effectively improve the protection of all kinds of cutting-edge scientific research talents. On the one hand, it is necessary to regularly test and inspect the physical condition of scientific and technological talents, so as to achieve early detection and early treatment of diseases, and on the other hand, to effectively improve the safety and security of daily travel, from daily personal safety to physical and mental health, we must put the safety and security of cutting-edge scientific and technological talents in the top priority.
The slightest bit of laxity can lead to serious consequences. The death of Tang Xiaoou, the founder of SenseTime, has also sounded the alarm for us, and it is urgent to start more comprehensive and meticulous security for top scientific researchers.
Author: Wang Xinxi, Senior Reviewer of TMT This article is not reproduced without permission