Tencent reportedly hired former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu as its chief AI scientist, at a time the company is conducting a wider overhaul of its AI operations.
According to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, Yao will report directly to Tencent president Martin Lau and head the company's newly formed AI Infrastructure Department.
The AI Infrastructure Department, Tencent's new research and development unit, sits within the company's Technology Engineering Group (TEG), which has established two fresh units to focus on large-model training, inference platforms and full-stack data and machine learning services as competition intensifies across the sector.
Yao was also appointed head of TEG's large language model development, reporting to the group's president Lu Shan. He reportedly joined Tencent earlier this year after a nearly two-year stint at OpenAI. Yao's previous roles include positions at Google, Microsoft and Princeton University while his research background spans AI agents and large-scale systems.
South China Morning Post reported that as part of its AI overhaul, Tencent also dissolved its Machine Learning Platform department and redistributed staff across the newly created teams. In addition, the company renamed its existing data platform team and reassigned staff to better align data services with model training and deployment.
At a recent earnings call, Lau reportedly said Tencent was recruiting more top-level AI researchers to strengthen its Hunyuan model family.
Yao's appointment comes as global competition for AI talent intensifies. Earlier this month, Meta Platforms made headlines for recruiting a senior Apple design expert while OpenAI nabbed a Google executive to lead as its VP of corporate development.