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Author | zer0
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Screenshot of the Best of CVPR 2009 award.
This is a milestone field in Chinese's artificial intelligence academia - in 2009, the world's top computer vision academic association CVPR was founded for the first time in 25 years, a team of Asian scholars won the highest honor.
Among the three ** authors, Sun Jian and Tang Xiaoou, two teachers, have gone out of time forever.
In the early morning of June 14, 2022, Dr. Sun Jian, a world-class artificial intelligence scientist, chief scientist of Megvii, and president of the Megvii Research Institute, passed away at the age of 45 due to a sudden illness.
At 23:54 on December 15, 2023, Tang Xiaoou, a world-class artificial intelligence scientist, founder of SenseTime, director of Pujiang Laboratory, director of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and professor of Chinese University of Hong Kong, died suddenly at the age of 55 due to ineffective treatment.
The sudden heavy news made this winter in the field of Chinese artificial intelligence cold to the bone.
At 10:30 this morning, the farewell ceremony of Mr. Tang Xiaoou's body was held in the hall of Shanghai Longhua Funeral Home.
Shanghai is rainy and rainy, perhaps God is also reluctant, to send the final elegy to this scientific and technological giant who has influenced the field of Chinese artificial intelligence, and is much loved and admired by academic mentors.
Ten years ago, he and his students broke through the boundaries of intelligence, realizing that the face recognition rate of robots surpassed that of the human eye, and the door of the times for machines to "understand" the world.
Today, computer vision applications are blooming everywhere in the digital world, but the gentleman who planted and watered the flowers fell asleep quietly.
In the pen of student Xu Bing: "He is an explorer and innovator who is never satisfied with the status quo, his wisdom and courage have given birth to SenseTime, his rigor and pragmatism have set a benchmark for scientific research, and his vision and feelings have shaped the future of China's AI industry." ”
Yan Shuicheng, co-CEO of Kunlun Wanwei Tiangong Intelligence, also mourns the memory of his mentor, he wrote that it is the many outstanding students cultivated by Mr. Tang in the past 20 years who have "raised China's computer vision from the plain to the top of Mount Everest".
What is worrying is that Tang Xiaoou, who just returned to his alma mater at the end of September to give a lecture on the centennial celebration of Anshan No. 1 Middle School, how could he say goodbye to the world so quietly on an ordinary night?
From his birth in Anshan, Liaoning Province on January 24, 1968 to his death in his sleep in Shanghai on December 15, 2023, the 55-year journey of life is so short and so brilliant.
He is an entrepreneur who founded SenseTime, a scholar with equal academic achievements, a good teacher in the world, a benevolent father who loves to show babies, an enthusiastic alumnus who pays attention to the education of his undergraduate alma mater, China University of Science and Technology, and a Northeast joker who likes to watch movies and listen to cross talk.
He is an artificial intelligence fire thief who has devoted his life to academics, and he is a golden sign to attract talents.
According to the memories of many teachers and alumni quoted by the University of Science and Technology of China New Alumni Association, Tang Xiaoou returned to HKUST many times before and after returning to Hong Kong Chinese University to teach, and donated most of his savings to study in the United States before moving to Hong Kong.
He is a frequent visitor to the top conferences, and often compares doing research to a competition of swords, and he has to go to Huashan to discuss swords, "If you must go to Taihang Mountain to discuss swords, to advance into Dabie Mountain, then others only think of you as a guerrilla, and never want to become a regular army." He sent outstanding students to the world's top universities for further study, and his impressive record made more outstanding students yearn for his team.
He never hesitated to praise his son Mingming for being "very beautiful", "the girlfriend he made before the age of four has surpassed the results of his father's 40 years of hard work", praised Wang Xiaogang, Cui Jingyu, Lin Dahua and other students as "geniuses", praised Hua for "really doing original technology", "is the only company I admire", and praised Microsoft Research Asia for "its unique status, unparalleled in the world".
He brought the spark of artificial intelligence visual recognition out of the academic ivory tower, but he was humble and polite. In January 2016, when he returned to USTC to give a keynote speech, Tang Xiaoou clarified that his statement that he was the best vision expert in the world was seriously untrue and unscientific, and joked that "I am the second computer vision expert in the world." So everyone is happy and feels that he is the first".
He has set a lofty mission for SenseTime, from "changing human cognition and redefining the world with scientific and technological innovation" to "insisting on originality and letting artificial intelligence lead human progress". He opposes the "wolf culture", advocates the "black sheep culture", advocates the unity, contribution, and empathy of the Xi flock, and dares to be different and pursue innovation.
In his thin body, there is a scientist who stands up to the sky, and a great and abundant soul.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai in July this year, Mr. Tang Xiaoou quoted the lines of the movie "Good Teacher" and confessed his true feelings to all the students and teachers who have cooperated:
I didn't meet you at the best time, but I met you and I had the best time. ”
This freeze-frame** made many people instantly mourn.
It is clear that I met Mr. Tang Xiaoou, and the field of computer vision in China has had this glorious time.
He single-handedly brought out the fruitful era of China's computer vision research, and established two artificial intelligence scientific research groups, the Hong Kong Chinese and the Visual Computing Group of Microsoft Research Asia, contributing a large number of in-depth Xi original technological breakthroughs around the world, and delivering a large number of pillars.
CEO Xu Li, Vice President Xu Bing, Chief Engineer Xu Zhiheng, Director of Hong Kong Chinese-SenseTime Joint Laboratory Lin Dahua, Dean of Research Institute Wang Xiaogang, Professor He Kaiming of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Assistant Professor Zhou Bolei of University of California, Los Angeles Assistant Professor, Ouyang Wanli, Professor of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Yan Shuicheng, Co-CEO of Kunlun Wanwei Tiangong Intelligence, Xu Chunjing, Director of Huawei Noah's Ark Computer Vision Laboratory, Liu Jianzhuang, senior researcher and chief scientist, Tao Dacheng, former top technical scientist of JD.com, and Zhao Cong, former head of DJI's AI vision business, ......are all the peach and plum of Teacher Tang Xiaoou.
When a high apprentice meets a good teacher, it is a blessing for each other.
Xu Li posted a message of condolences in the circle of friends: "When I met you, we had this best time." ”
Xu Bing wrote: "He is not only the soul of SenseTime, but also a beacon in the hearts of countless students. "Today, we have lost such a great man. We have lost a teacher and friend with a warm humanity. ”
Those light chasers who were more or less under the shadow of Teacher Tang Xiaoou have now become light, carrying on the past and opening up the future, illuminating the path of those who come after.
The superstar falls, life is impermanent, and I hope you will cherish it.
Over the past 20 years, Mr. Tang Xiaoou has used his experience and wisdom to accompany the Chinese artificial intelligence academic community through a long road, from the blue wisps of the road to the splendid flowers. The more than 400 articles he left behind** are a great sigh and a continuation of life.
It's just that from now on, at important conferences in the field of artificial intelligence, we will no longer see Mr. Tang Xiaoou quoting classics so vividly, relaxedly, and humorously, from movies and ** to cutting-edge technology.
He walked silently, without sound, just as he had been teaching and educating people all the time.
An era has come to an end.
Gone are the heydays of computer vision entrepreneurs. The development of artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, and the train of the large model is roaring forward with the accelerator, charging at full speed towards general artificial intelligence.
Time will not stop for anyone for a moment, in the bustling world, the fall of a life is like water melting into water, as long as you don't care, it will not leave a trace of sporadic traces.
Stopping the heart is not real death, forgetting is.
If you've benefited from the world changed by computer vision, set aside a corner of your brain pantry and remember this lovable AI scientist and occasionally think of his name.
The countryman is unique, and Mr. is eternal.