Former IBM scientist helms Shanghai AI Lab after death of SenseTime’s Tang Xiao’ou

Zhou Bowen, former chief scientist of IBM’s Watson Group, has been appointed director at one of China’s top AI research institutions

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Zhou Bowen, newly appointed director of the Shanghai AI Lab, speaks at the World AI Conference in Shanghai on Thursday. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:00pm, 5 Jul 2024

Zhou Bowen, an artificial intelligence (AI) scientist formerly with US tech giant IBM and Chinese e-commerce platform operator JD.com, has become the new head of the Shanghai AI Laboratory after the death of its first director Tang Xiao’ou, a leading expert on facial recognition and co-founder of SenseTime Group.

Zhou, 47, made his public debut as director of the Shanghai AI Lab on Thursday at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), China’s largest AI event featuring prominent speakers, which included Premier Li Qiang this year.

The Shanghai AI Lab is one of the nation’s top AI research institutions, with ties to major mainland universities as well as the University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong.

According to Zhou’s biography published by China Citic Bank International, where he serves as a non-executive independent director, the scientist is a US citizen.

A graduate of the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of Colorado Boulder, Zhou worked at IBM from 2003 to 2017, taking up roles that include chief scientist of the Watson Group, known for its supercomputer, and director of the AI Foundations Labs.

He then joined Beijing-headquartered JD.com as its cloud and AI president, and director of AI research, according to his biography.