Down Angle Symbol A symbol in the form of an angle pointing downwards. Tang Xiao'ou, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2023 World Conference on Artificial Intelligence at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center on July 6, 2023 in Shanghai, China. VCG via Getty Images
- Tang Xiao'ou, the billionaire founder of Chinese AI giant SenseTime, died on Friday.
- The company announced that he had succumbed to unknown “health issues.”
- He died just weeks after the company was accused of artificially inflating its revenue.
Tang Xiao'ou, the billionaire founder of Chinese AI giant SenseTime, died on Friday of undisclosed “health problems,” according to a statement from the partly state-owned company.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Professor Tang Xiao'ou, our beloved founder, a renowned artificial intelligence (AI) scientist, director of Pujiang Lab, director of Shanghai AI Lab and professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.” it said in a statement from SenseTime released in China early Sunday. “Professor Tang passed away due to health reasons at 11:45 p.m. on December 15, 2023.”
The obituary published by the company did not specify what health problems Tang died from or whether his illness was already known.
The controversial Chinese AI company was founded in 2014 and was once the most valuable AI startup in the world, thanks in part to its direct connections and funding from the Chinese government. The company develops technologies including facial recognition, object recognition, and video and image analysis using AI.
Representatives for SenseTime did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Tang's death comes just weeks after a U.S.-based short seller, Grizzly Research, accused the Chinese AI company of artificially inflating its revenue, suggesting that SenseTime engaged in “highly questionable revenue round-tripping.” “schemes” in which the Company directly or indirectly provided funds to customers that were used to purchase goods from SenseTime that may never have been delivered.
“We believe that SenseTime's core facial recognition business has become notoriously unprofitable due to intense competition and the fact that the Chinese government simply does not make it a practice to award highly profitable contracts to majority foreign-owned companies,” Grizzly said Research in its published report at the end of November.
Although the company argued in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the report was “unfounded and contains unsubstantiated allegations and misleading conclusions and interpretations,” SenseTime shares were still hit hard by the allegations, falling nearly 10 as a result % Forbes reported that total losses so far this year are over 40% – and over 80% since the IPO.
At the time of his death, Tang had a net worth of $1.1 billion, made up entirely of the value of his shares in SenseTime, according to Forbes.
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