Former Microsoft and Alibaba veteran Hu Yunhua joins Zhipu AI as head of ChatGLM

Alibaba and Tencent jointly invest in state-backed AI startup ZhipuAI Credit: ZhipuAI

Former Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) researcher and senior technical expert at Alibaba DAMO Academy, Hu Yunhua, has joined AI unicorn Zhipu AI, according to Chinese media outlet 36Kr. Hu will lead the company’s consumer-facing AI conversation application, ChatGLM. Hu began his career at MSRA as an intern in 2003 and became a researcher in 2007. In 2012, he joined Alibaba, where he was instrumental in developing recommendation algorithms for shopping intent mining and optimization. After leaving Alibaba in 2014, he founded Smartdot, an AI company that raised four funding rounds in its first year and focused on e-commerce solutions such as intelligent customer service. ChatGLM has attracted over 25 million users and generates annual revenue of more than RMB 10 million ($1.4 million). Yet despite its early success, the platform now faces intensified competition as major tech firms enter the conversational AI market. [36Kr, in Chinese]