Chinese Big Tech firms ByteDance, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings are looking to recruit some of the world’s brightest minds in artificial intelligence (AI) with their enhanced presence at this year’s Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), often referred to as the “Olympics of AI”.
At NeurIPS to be held in Vancouver, Canada, from Dec 10 to 15, TikTok parent ByteDance, Alibaba advertising unit Alimama and video-gaming giant Tencent are set to host various events on the sidelines of the conference, according to company notices. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The three companies are currently jostling to entice more skilled recruits to work in mainland China’s fast-growing and highly competitive AI sector.
By 2030, demand in China for professionals skilled in AI product development will reach six million individuals, according to a McKinsey report published last year. For every five new AI jobs in China, there are only two qualified workers available in the market, a 2023 study by career social network site Maimai showed.
ByteDance’s Doubao large language model (LLM) team is organising a dinner, where its technical leaders and researchers will share their insights to invited AI professionals, academics and students. LLM is the technology underpinning generative AI services like ChatGPT.
“ByteDance is increasing its investment in top talent and frontier technology,” the Beijing-based company’s notice said. “Join us, you will be working with the best scientists and engineers to tackle technology challenges.”
An AI study by researchers from ByteDance and China’s Peking University this week received the “Outstanding Paper” award from NeurIPS. More than 50 research works from ByteDance were accepted for this year’s conference.
Alibaba’s Alimama, meanwhile, is organising an AI-related contest at the event, according to a report by local media outlet 36Kr.
In a WeChat post, Tencent said it will host a “Starlit Tech Gala” at a venue that is close to the Vancouver Convention Centre, where NeurIPS will be held. The Shenzhen-based company said the gala will feature a special session with Tencent recruiters. – South China Morning Post
