Alibaba Expands AI Team with New Hire Steven Hoi

Alibaba Group Holding is enhancing its artificial intelligence (AI) team focused on consumer applications by hiring Steven Hoi Chu-hong. Hoi is recognized for his expertise in machine learning and computer vision technologies. Previously, he held the position of managing director at Salesforce Research Asia.

Steven Hoi was appointed as a vice-president at Alibaba last month, and he will be based in Singapore. He joins the Intelligent Information Platform, a unit responsible for consumer-oriented products including Alibaba's AI chatbot, UC Browser, and the search engine Quark.

As part of his new role, Hoi is expected to lead the research and development of multimodal foundation models, agent-related studies, and practical solutions for AI applications aimed at consumers, as reported by a Chinese digital media outlet.

This appointment comes shortly after Alibaba reorganized its AI operations into two distinct divisions. One of these focuses on consumer applications while the other is aimed at developing fundamental AI models and tools meant for enterprises and developers.

Alibaba, based in Hangzhou, has not responded to inquiries regarding this appointment.

The recruitment of Hoi signals Alibaba's commitment to the competitive landscape for AI talent in China, especially as various major tech companies strive to recruit the best expertise both domestically and internationally. This move occurs in the context of a challenging job market in China.

Alibaba, AI, StevenHoi