China mourns the death of billionaire Tang Xiao'ou
Tang Xiao'ou founded Sensetime in 2014. The AI company's facial recognition software in particular is a success: Chinese security authorities use it to monitor the Uyghurs and coronavirus measures. But there are also economic problems. Now the billionaire has died unexpectedly.
The billionaire and founder of the leading Chinese AI company Sensetime has died unexpectedly. Tang Xiao'ou "succumbed to an incurable disease" shortly before midnight on Friday, Sensetime explained in a statement. The company, which is primarily known for its facial recognition software, did not provide any further details on the cause of death of the respected scientist. Tang was 55 years old.
Tang had studied at the University of Rochester in the US state of New York, among others. In 1996, he received his doctorate from the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. He later became a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He founded Sensetime in 2014. The company praised Tang as "an outstanding representative in the field of artificial intelligence" and called him "knowledgeable, rigorous in science, truth-seeking and pragmatic". According to the US business magazine "Forbes", Tang most recently had a fortune of 1.1 billion US dollars through his company shares.
However, Sensetime has repeatedly stumbled economically in recent years. In 2019, the company was blacklisted by the USA because it is part of China's "military-industrial complex": the technologies developed there are used for mass surveillance of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province. During the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese authorities have also used Sensetime's software to measure temperature, to determine whether someone is wearing a mask as prescribed and for identification - even when wearing a mask.
Assets shrunk enormously
The company is therefore prohibited from purchasing certain technologies and goods in the USA. In 2021, Sensetime had to postpone its IPO by several months because it had recently been sanctioned again by the USA and placed on a blacklist for American investments.
"According to Forbes, the company's growth is suffering greatly as a result of the sanctions. In the first half of the year, sales only increased by 1.3 percent compared to the previous year. A few years ago, Sensetime grew by almost 100 percent within a year. As a result, the share price has already fallen by more than 40 percent this year. Since the IPO in December 2021, the share price has fallen by more than 80 percent.
Tang's assets have also shrunk significantly as a result. According to Forbes, it amounted to 6 billion US dollars in 2022.
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The unexpected death of Tang Xiao'ou, the billionaire founder of Sensetime, has been mourned in China. This leading AI company, primarily known for its facial recognition software, has faced economic challenges in recent years due to sanctions from the USA. Despite Tang's fortune of 1.1 billion USD through Sensetime, these sanctions have significantly impacted the company's growth and Tang's assets, which shrank to 6 billion USD in 2022.
Source: www.ntv.de
