China's Baidu said it has appointed a former Microsoft executive as chief operating officer, part of a push into artificial intelligence as earnings from its core search engine business wane. Baidu has been refocusing its business strategy after the introduction of new advertising regulations, aimed at medical advertising in particular, led to a 16 percent drop in ad customers during quarter ended in September. Qi Lu, who was an executive vice president at Microsoft and headed its unit in charge of Office, Bing and Skype until last September, will help develop artificial intelligence as a key strategic focus for Baidu over the next decade. Lu possesses a wealth of leadership and management experience, and is a leading authority in the area of artificial intelligence," Baidu Chief Executive Robin Li in a statement. The company launched a $200 million fund in October to focus on artificial intelligence, augmented reality and deep learning, followed by a $3 billion fund announced in September to target mid and late stage start-ups.

Just a day after it opened an augmented reality lab, China's internet giant Baidu has beefed up on its AI talent after it announced the hiring of former Microsoft executive Qi Lu as group president and COO. Baidu is best known for its search engine, which dominates in China, but over the past two years it has put focus on developing artificial intelligence, which includes self-driving cars and more. In that respect, the hiring of Lu -- who exited Microsoft last year on medical grounds -- is a major coup. Lu most recently ran Microsoft's applications and services business, and previously headed up the Redmond-based company's search division having joined in 2009 following an 11-year stint with Yahoo. Fun fact: While with Microsoft, he championed a bid for Slack, but ultimately CEO Satya Nadella and co-founder Bill Gates decided against it.