Baidu, ByteDance pursue AI graduates overseas amid shortage of top tech talent
Some of China's biggest tech companies, including Baidu, Tencent Holdings and TikTok owner ByteDance, have embarked on a worldwide search for top talent to strengthen their research into cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and autonomous driving.
As soon as the spring semester finished, companies kicked off their annual campus recruitment drives, with some efforts targeting final-year doctorate candidates in the field of AI.
Baidu, which has invested heavily in large language models (LLMs), the technology behind ChatGPT-like chat bots, as well as AI-powered self driving technology, said its campaign will focus on those with expertise in LLMs, computer vision, self driving and integrated circuit design. Ideal candidates would be students who will graduate between September this year and August 2025, according to a social media post by the company in late June.
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The campaign aims at "recruiting top campus talent in AI and cultivating AI technology leaders", the firm said. Baidu, which also runs China's top search engine, has been shifting its focus on AI. It was the first Chinese firm to have rolled out an AI chat bot, called Ernie Bot, three months after ChatGPT's launch, and has deployed a fleet of nearly 500 driverless robotaxis in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province.
The Apollo logo is seen on a Baidu driverless robotaxi in Wuhan, Hubei province on February 24, 2023. Photo: Reuters alt=The Apollo logo is seen on a Baidu driverless robotaxi in Wuhan, Hubei province on February 24, 2023. Photo: Reuters>
Tencent, the social media and video gaming giant, has a similar programme to attract "top tech students across the globe" to join the company in 10 technical fields including LLMs, game engines, robotics and quantum computing, the company announced earlier this month.
Anyone who graduates between January 2023 and December 2025 can apply. The job openings are not only in China, but in other major economies including the US, UK, Singapore and the Netherlands. Besides PhD students, those with a bachelor's or master's degree are also welcome, the company said.
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin, whose success largely relies on AI-powered recommendation algorithms, is looking for PhD students to further advance its search and recommendation capabilities. Those who specialise in robotics, cybersecurity and hardware will also be eligible for ByteDance's recruitment programme announced two weeks earlier.
The company is looking for students who will graduate with a PhD between September and August 2025, and they can choose to work in major Chinese cities or at ByteDance US offices in San Jose and Seattle.
The companies have promised "competitive compensation" and "comprehensive training" in a bid to lure the world's best tech talent, who are also up for grabs by western tech giants and academia.
Tencent has launched a programme to attract top tech students across the globe. Photo: Shutterstock Images alt=Tencent has launched a programme to attract top tech students across the globe. Photo: Shutterstock Images>
PhD graduates have long preferred university and research institutes when seeking jobs, but the balance is tilting towards industry given the prominence of technologies like AI. Nearly 70 per cent of AI PhDs joined corporations in 2020, compared to only 21 per cent in 2004, according to 2023 research by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Virginia Tech.
The pursuit of higher quality talent in fields such as AI and semiconductors by China's Big Tech companies also fits with Beijing's drive for tech self sufficiency, to counteract export restrictions imposed by the US over national security concerns. For example, ChatGPT developer OpenAI recently banned China-based developers from accessing its services via its application programming interface, spurring growth of local alternatives.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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