South China Morning Post
Mon, August 28, 2023
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) professor Zhou Zhihua has been tapped to head up one of the world's top AI academic associations, becoming the first person teaching at a mainland Chinese institution to take the helm since its founding more than 50 years ago in California.
Zhou, 50, has been elected as the latest president of the Board of Trustees at the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), according to information posted on the IJCAI's official X account last Friday. X was formerly known as Twitter.
Zhou is currently head of the department of computer science and technology as well as dean of the AI school at Nanjing University in China's eastern Jiangsu province. He was elected as the programme chair of the IJCAI in 2021 and served as a trustee of the association between 2018 and 2023, according to his biography on the IJCAI's official website.
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Zhou's appointment was made at the closing ceremony of this year's IJCAI conference in Macau. Although professor Yang Qiang, head of the department of computer science and engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, headed the IJCAI from 2017 to 2019 - he was a permanent Hong Kong resident despite being born in mainland China.
Zhou did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his new role.
Founded in 1969 in California, IJCAI is a non-profit organisation focused on scientific and educational activities relating to AI. The IJCAI conference, held annually since 2016, attracts large numbers of AI researchers and professionals from around the world, according to its official website.
At this year's conference, where big AI models were a hot topic, Zhou said discussions had focused on developing the capabilities of AI models as well as overcoming potential drawbacks, according to an interview he did with tech website Leiphone.com.
Zhou added that the IJCAI mulled over how to use AI technologies to help human beings have "have balanced development" and avoid issues such as "vulnerable groups becoming more vulnerable".
Zhou obtained his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in computer science at Nanjing University, and has worked in various positions at the institution since 2002, according to his biography on the university's website.
In 2018, when China highlighted AI as a national strategic priority, Zhou led a team to found the country's first AI school in Nanjing University and established a disciplinary system for undergraduates to study AI.
Zhou has also collaborated with major tech companies such as Tencent Holdings, Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding to turn scientific results into commercial reality. His team has set up a joint lab with Huawei Technologies, which has transformed more than 10 scientific and technological achievements into real Huawei products.
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Zhou was also one of the few scientists to attend a symposium hosted by President Xi Jinping to develop ideas for the country's five-year plan between 2021 and 2025. In March this year, he was appointed as a member of the CPPCC National Committee, China's top political advisory body.
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