{"id":20095,"date":"2025-09-16T04:38:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T02:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/i-have-to-do-it-why-one-of-the-worlds-most-brilliant-ai-scientists-left-the-us-for-china\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T04:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T02:38:18","slug":"i-have-to-do-it-why-one-of-the-worlds-most-brilliant-ai-scientists-left-the-us-for-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/i-have-to-do-it-why-one-of-the-worlds-most-brilliant-ai-scientists-left-the-us-for-china\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I have to do it\u2019: Why one of the world\u2019s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2020, after spending half his life in the US, Song-Chun Zhu took a one-way ticket to China. Now he might hold the key to who wins the global AI race<\/p>\n

By the time Song-Chun Zhu was six years old, he had encountered death more times than he could count. Or so it felt. This was the early 1970s, the waning years of the Cultural Revolution, and his father ran a village supply store in rural China. There was little to do beyond till the fields and study Mao Zedong at home, and so the shop became a refuge where people could rest, recharge and share tales. Zhu grew up in that shop, absorbing a lifetime\u2019s worth of tragedies: a family friend lost in a car crash, a relative from an untreated illness, stories of suicide or starvation. \u201cThat was really tough,\u201d Zhu recalled recently. \u201cPeople were so poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young Zhu became obsessed with what people left behind after they died. One day, he came across a book that contained his family genealogy. When he asked the bookkeeper why it included his ancestors\u2019 dates of birth and death but nothing about their lives, the man told him matter of factly that they were peasants, so there was nothing worth recording. The answer terrified Zhu. He resolved that his fate would be different.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nIn 2020, after spending half his life in the US, Song-Chun Zhu took a one-way ticket to China. Now he might hold the key to who wins the global AI race
\nBy the time Song-Chun Zhu was six years old, he had encountered death more times than he could count. Or so it felt. This was the early 1970s, the waning years of the Cultural Revolution, and his father ran a village supply store in rural China. There was little to do beyond till the fields and study Mao Zedong at home, and so the shop became a refuge where people could rest, recharge and share tales. Zhu grew up in that shop, absorbing a lifetime\u2019s worth of tragedies: a family friend lost in a car crash, a relative from an untreated illness, stories of suicide or starvation. \u201cThat was really tough,\u201d Zhu recalled recently. \u201cPeople were so poor.\u201d
\nThe young Zhu became obsessed with what people left behind after they died. One day, he came across a book that contained his family genealogy. When he asked the bookkeeper why it included his ancestors\u2019 dates of birth and death but nothing about their lives, the man told him matter of factly that they were peasants, so there was nothing worth recording. The answer terrified Zhu. He resolved that his fate would be different. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2020, after spending half his life in the US, Song-Chun Zhu took a one-way ticket to China. Now he might hold the key to who wins the global AI race By the time Song-Chun Zhu was six years old, he had encountered death more times than he could count. Or so it felt. This …<\/p>\n

\u2018I have to do it\u2019: Why one of the world\u2019s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":20096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20095"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}