Resignation setback for Baidu's artificial intelligence push - Business - Chinadaily.com.cn

BEIJING－The chief scientist helping drive Baidu Inc's artificial intelligence push is quitting the search giant, putting at risk its efforts to place the sector at the center of its business revival. Andrew Ng, a Stanford University academic who worked on deep learning at Google Inc's parent company Alphabet Inc before joining Baidu in 2014, said he's leaving the business next month. Ng said he does not plan to join another technology company and will seek to bring AI into sectors such as healthcare and education around the world. The departure comes at a crucial point for the Beijing-based company, as it attempts to revive its fortunes by embracing machine intelligence across all of its business units. His decision to leave comes after Lu Qi joined Baidu as president and chief operating officer in January, with a mandate to reshape the business.