Li Yanhong, CEO of China's top search engine Baidu, has been ranked in the top three of a list of global AI influencers, the only Chinese business leader to be included on the ranking, released by Harvard Business Review.

The list, released on December 10, also includes Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Based on the Artificial Intelligence Cognitive Survey, which was conducted by Harvard Business Review, the list examines the direct influence, the ability to exert power beyond the domain, judgments about the future of AI and the extent to which they can take an active role in the industry.

Through in-depth research, the survey covers a total of 200 practitioners in artificial intelligence, who are in different positions of different companies and have various perspectives and feelings.

Taking full advantage of artificial intelligence, the companies led by the top 10 names have expanded the range of their services and led new trends of development in the industry.

The world's most successful commercial companies, as well as leading entrepreneurs who drive these companies to achieve transformation, are the beacons that lead the artificial intelligence industry, playing a crucial role in key moments and areas of global AI development, the report said.

It not only made Apple the first US company worth $1trillion, but also enabled AI to be an important cornerstone of Apple's future since Cook, who topped the list. Apple's AI technology is mainly embodied in three aspects: the image recognition technology for its Photo App and facial recognition; the song recommendation feature for Apple music, which can make corresponding recommendations by mining user's listening patterns, and the AI chip, which is able to understand the user patterns to make corresponding adjustments.

Current Microsoft CEO Nadella, ranked second on the list, is regarded as a global leader in AI, having led the traditional giant to success in the AI era. Over the years he ran Microsoft, Nadella has devoted a lot of resources to developing innovative technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things, which has made Microsoft thrive again and become a core player in global cloud computing and AI.

Li, founder of Baidu, the representative company with the deepest accumulation of technology and the widest layout in the field of artificial intelligence, was the only Chinese player selected. Li, a pioneer of China's AI industry, is described as a full experiential AI leader. In his mission to develop and popularize autonomous vehicles in China, he traveled around Beijing's Fifth Ring Road in a driverless car. Baidu started working in AI in 2012. In December of that year, Li took the lead in building the Baidu Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, collecting a number of global AI talents and continuously expanding the RD team in the following six years.

Over the past six years, Baidu has gone through different stages, from technical distribution, product landing to commercialization. Li has strategically maintained Baidu's consistency and integrity in the field of AI.

Technically, Baidu's RD antenna is not only in the artificial intelligence application, but also in the technology and the basic RD layer. In the past few years, Baidu has been regarded as one of the few or only Chinese competitors by global technology giants, including Google, Apple and Microsoft. Baidu is also the only Chinese company to have made MIT's list of Top 10 Global Breakthrough Technologies for three consecutive years. In 2018, Baidu was nominated as a key player in the real-time voice translation domain.

In terms of business and product layout, the self-driving Apollo bus, developed by Baidu Apollo and King Long Bus, went into mass production and the autopilot system of Apollo was iterated to version 3.0; the new AI-focused chip Kunlun was unveiled; Baidu Brain entered the 3.0 stage and is the base for Baidu's crucial AI platform which spurred its commercialization.

When AI realizes large-scale commercial production, Baidu Brain will become a part of the infrastructure, with its reach extending to all walks of life. Li's strategic perspective and Baidu's practices have both made a breakthrough for and provided an example for other Chinese companies in the global AI market.

(China PLUS)