Tencent, China’s $300 billion tech giant and maker of the popular messaging app WeChat, today confirmed it has opened a lab in Seattle devoted to AI (Artificial intelligence) tech. The social media and gaming company also confirmed it has poached Dong Yu, a former principal researcher at Microsoft Research, to head its AI lab.
He previously worked for 19 years in various roles at Microsoft.
Dong, a voice recognition and deep learning technology expert, indicates on his LinkedIn that he took up the new post in March.
The Seattle facility complements Tencent’s first AI lab in its
