My Journey into AI: The Story Behind the Man Who Helped Launch 5 A.I. Companies Worth $25 Billion

306 Pages·2019·7.07 MB·English

by  Kai-Fu Lee

AI Superstar
by
Kai-Fu Lee
Copyright © 2018 by Cranberry Press
ISBN: Softcover 978-1-7320497-3-4
Ebook 978-1-7320497-5-8
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. This is a
work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FORWORD: WHY DON'T WE AGREE TO DISAGREE?
CHAPTER 1. FOLLOWING MY HEART
CHATPER 2. ADVENTUROUS GENES
CHAPTER 3. FLYING TO AMERICA
CHAPTER 4. LEARNING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
CHAPTER 5. GETTING RECOGNIZED FOR “SPEECH
RECOGNITION”
CHAPTER 6. LEAVING ACADEMIA FOR APPLE
CHAPTER 7. THE RISE AND FALL OF SILICON GRAPHICS
CHAPTER 8. A MISSON IMPOSSIBLE
CHAPTER 9. VOICELESS IN SEATTLE
CHAPTER 10. MICROSOFT, GOOGLE, AND ME
CHAPTER 11. TAKING GOOGLE TO CHINA
CHAPTER 12. TEACHER KAI-FU
A family portrait of August 2009 with wife Shen-Ling (second to left), daughters
Jennifer (right) and Cynthia (left)
A celebration of Google China's new site in 2006
Foreword
Why Don’t We Agree to Disagree?
On January 12, 2010 at 7:10 a.m., my phone rang. It was from David Barboza of
the New York Times. I picked up the phone, and David asked, “Kai-Fu, I want
to talk to you about Google pulling out of China.”
I respected David a great deal – he had written several stories about my work at
Google, always with exceptional insight and in lightening time. But this was one
interview I could not do.
After politely declining his interview, my phone rang again – the Wall Street
Journal, Reuters, AP, the Chinese portals, Chinese Dailies…. By the time I
returned home that night, my cell phone had run out of battery from ringing all
day.
My energy was as drained as the battery in my phone. It was exhausting to see
my hard work in four years crumble in one day. My four-year tenure as
President of Google China was the most exhilarating experience – hiring 700
brilliant and dedicated people and rallying them to compete against the 7000-
person Baidu, China’s largest search engine; developing a Silicon Valley culture
yet localizing it to fit in China; bringing Google China's market share from 10%
to 35% while Yahoo, eBay, AOL and other Internet giants gave up their China
ventures; reaching a 2010 revenue level reported to be $600 million; creating
great products from the most accurate web search to the most popular map and
mobile products that delighted Chinese users.
I said to myself, “If Google pulls out, the products will become inaccessible to
most users, and the world’s number-one brand Google may become
unrecognizable in the world’s most populous country.”
I asked myself, “What would happen to all the hard work that my team and I put
in over those four years? Would things have been different had I not resigned
from Google on September 4, 2009?”
That night and every night that week, it was difficult for me to go to sleep – I
continued to think about what happened, what made it happen, and what might
be next…
More than a year has passed since then. As of October 2011, Google's market
share in China has dropped to single-digit. Its services are harder and harder for
Chinese users to access.
Looking back, I realize the Google China drama was the perfect manifestation of
the never-ending China-America chasm. These two great countries and their
people are forever trying to understand each other but end up succumbing to
stereotypes; hearing the other’s words but not comprehending the meaning;
endorsing each other in words but undermining each other in deeds; demanding
the other to accommodate and empathize but remaining intransigent itself. In my
view, these phenomena all boil down to a lack of understanding.
I remember when I took a prominent lawyer to visit the Forbidden Palace in
Beijing. After several hours touring the exquisite grounds, she could no longer
hold back her question, and had to ask me, “Kai-Fu, please tell me, where is the
emperor?” If a highly educated lawyer does not know that China’s monarchy
ended in 1911 and the post-1979 China is a socialist state practicing capitalist
economy, what hope do we have that two countries will know each other?
I remember when I started Microsoft Research China, and visited the dean of
Engineering at the famous Tsinghua University. I asked him if he could send
students to be our interns. But the word “intern” made no sense to him, as there
had never been any companies trying to hire interns from his esteemed school.
After much explanation, something clicked, and he said, “Oh, I get it. Interns.
Like Monica Lewinski.” If “intern” becomes a symbol of promiscuity, then how
can the Chinese truly understand the way the American R&D system became the
world’s best?
I remember while heading up Microsoft Research China, being swamped by
angry Chinese reporters demanding an explanation why Bill Gates called
Chinese people thieves. I later learned that Gates had told Fortune, “As long as
they [Chinese people] are going to steal [software], we want them to steal ours.
They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect
sometime in the next decade.” As the world’s richest person, Gates usually
speaks his mind, and in this case he was angry about piracy. But neither he nor
his PR managers understood that what he said not only made Microsoft a
scheming company with a conspiracy to dominate China and stifle local
competition, but worse, he dishonored and insulted the entire people. Honor
(also known as “face”) is more important to the Chinese than virtually anything.
So this is why my job as the China executive for American companies was
difficult. It was like the job of a diplomat when neither country understood the
other, or the job of a marriage counselor trying to help a hopelessly stubborn
couple get back together, or the job of a translator between people from two
planets.
Over the years, I have learned that if each country could understand the other’s
history, culture, and viewpoint, and accept that there are some issues that the two
countries will “agree to disagree”, there would be tremendous progress. I have
come to really like the wise Chinese proverb “yi zhong qiu tong,” which means
seeking common ground while accepting differences. This is precisely the
mindset that both countries need.
I’ve done everything I could to help prominent American companies understand
China. Now I’m also helping promising companies of China understand
America, the world, and China’s responsibilities as it rises in this world. I
believe China and America will respect each other more if both nations see what
I have seen.
Through my personal stories, I hope the Chinese will realize that when
Americans appear to be self-righteous, not to assume it is because Americans are
aggressive bullies, but consider that it might be because American's desire to
help and share their formula for success. American behaviors are shaped by
America’s rapid rise to prosperity, and a deep sense of righteousness.
Through my personal stories, I hope that Americans will recognize that when the
Chinese appear to be autocratic, not to assume it is because Chinese are power-
hungry thugs, but consider that it might be from their desire to lengthen stability
and pave the ground for a better tomorrow. Chinese behaviors are shaped by
China’s older glorious history that makes them proud, and also by newer
traumatic history that makes them cautious.
So this is why I have decided to write this book about my life and my stories. It