China’s top AI scientist Yang Hongxia joins Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The recruitment comes as the Hong Kong government makes efforts to transform the city into a technology hub by leveraging the research capabilities of its top universities

Reading Time:2 minutes

Hong Kong is leveraging on the research capabilities of its top universities to transform into a tech hub. Photo: Sun Yeung

Published: 8:30pm, 29 Jul 2024

Yang Hongxia, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) scientist who did stints with Alibaba Group Holding and TikTok owner ByteDance, has joined the faculty of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Yang is a professor in PolyU’s Department of Computing, where she is recruiting doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers interested in “specialising in generative AI and decentralised computing”, according to her profile on the university website.

Yang did not respond immediately to a request for an interview on Monday.

The move aligns with the government’s ongoing efforts to transform the city into a technology hub.

“Despite its small geographical size, Hong Kong is an international city that can attract talent and access global markets,” Albert Wong Hak-keung, CEO of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, said in a recent interview with the Post. “Additionally, the city has strong fundamental research capabilities, underpinned by its top universities.”

As one of China’s most notable female figures working in AI, Yang joined ByteDance’s applied machine learning team in 2023. She was based in Seattle, where she reported to Liang Xiang, who headed development of the Doubao large language model. Yang left ByteDance in May to start her own AI-related project, according to Chinese tech news outlet 36Kr.