Baidu, ByteDance pursue AI graduates overseas amid shortage of top tech talent
- PhD graduates have long preferred university and research institutes when seeking jobs, but the balance is tilting towards industry given the prominence of tech like AI
Some of China’s biggest tech companies, including Baidu, Tencent Holdings and TikTok owner ByteDance, have embarked on a worldwide search for top talent to strengthen their research into cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and autonomous driving.
As soon as the spring semester finished, companies kicked off their annual campus recruitment drives, with some efforts targeting final-year doctorate candidates in the field of AI.
Baidu, which has invested heavily in large language models (LLMs), the technology behind ChatGPT-like chat bots, as well as AI-powered self driving technology, said its campaign will focus on those with expertise in LLMs, computer vision, self driving and integrated circuit design. Ideal candidates would be students who will graduate between September this year and August 2025, according to a social media post by the company in late June.
The campaign aims at “recruiting top campus talent in AI and cultivating AI technology leaders”, the firm said. Baidu, which also runs China’s top search engine, has been shifting its focus on AI. It was the first Chinese firm to have rolled out an AI chat bot, called Ernie Bot, three months after ChatGPT’s launch, and has deployed a fleet of nearly 500 driverless robotaxis in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province.
Tencent, the social media and video gaming giant, has a similar programme to attract “top tech students across the globe” to join the company in 10 technical fields including LLMs, game engines, robotics and quantum computing, the company announced earlier this month.