Tang Xiaoou

Overview

Tang Xiaoou was a Chinese computer scientist who worked on computer vision — the branch of AI concerned with getting machines to interpret images and video — and who turned that research into a company. He was born on 24 January 1968 in Anshan, Liaoning, China^[1]. He is best known as the co-founder and chairman of SenseTime, and as a long-serving professor and administrator at the Chinese University of Hong Kong^[1].

Education

Tang studied computer science as an undergraduate at the University of Science and Technology of China, receiving his BS in 1990^[1]. He then went abroad, earning an MS from the University of Rochester in 1991^[1] and a PhD in ocean engineering from MIT in 1996^[1]. The doctorate was in ocean engineering rather than computer science, but the techniques of signal processing, imaging and applied mathematics that such work involves sit close to computer vision, and it was in vision that he built his later career.

At the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Tang taught in the Department of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong^[1]. There he founded the Multimedia Laboratory in 2001, giving him a base for work on images, video and the statistical methods used to analyse them^[1]. He later served as associate dean^[1], a role that put him in charge of parts of the university's research and teaching organisation rather than only his own group.

Between 2005 and 2008 he also worked at Microsoft Research Asia^[1], the Beijing-based lab that trained a large number of researchers in Chinese industry and academia. Time spent in an industrial lab of that kind typically means closer contact with large data sets, computing resources and problems that come directly from products.

Standing in the research community

Tang's research was recognised within computer vision. He won the Best Paper Award at CVPR 2009^[1], one of the field's main annual conferences. He was programme chair of ICCV 2009 and general chair of ICCV 2019^[1] — the two roles that shape a conference's technical programme and oversee its running. He was also an IEEE Fellow^[1], a grade of membership the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers awards to a small proportion of its members for sustained achievement.

SenseTime

In 2014 Tang co-founded SenseTime with Xu Li and served as its founder and chairman^[1]. The company grew into one of China's most visible artificial intelligence firms, working on computer vision. In December 2021 SenseTime held its initial public offering^[1]; after it, Tang's net worth was estimated at about US$3.4 billion^[1]. His position was unusual in combining a founder-chairman's role with an active academic career, a pattern common among Chinese AI companies that grew out of university laboratories.

Death

Tang died on 15 December 2023 at the age of 55^[1]. SenseTime announced his death the following day^[1][3], saying in its social media post that he "passed away due to illness"^[3]. The company's shares fell 18% after news of his death^[2][4], a measure of how closely investors identified the firm with its founder.

Significance

Tang's career tracks the rise of Chinese computer vision: from university laboratories and conference papers, through industrial research labs, to founding a listed company. His death at 55 came while the company he co-founded was still closely associated with him.