Tencent to spare no expense in funding of computer vision research

Tencent said its artificial intelligence research facility, YouTu Lab, aims to put unlimited research resources into focusing on computer vision research efforts to allow its tech to be extended to various industries in everyday life.

The Internet giant officially set up its research hub for computer vision as an extension of the existing YouTu Lab, and has entered into a partnership with Science magazine from the American Association for the Advancement of Science to strengthen academic collaboration.

"Technology will be our most important business driver, and we will not set a budget limit on our investment in the YouTu Lab research works," computer vision scientist and general manager of YouTu Lab, Jia Jiaya, said. "We're aiming for artificial intelligence to become an piece of infrastructure to be combined with our existing products across all business units."

The two parties' collaboration in the computer vision sector will include research, industry application and academic exchange.

"We also hope to bring together research resources with domestic scientists and Science's fundamental research and education resources, apart from driving collaboration with academic and overseas scientists," he added.

The major focus for the application of computer vision will include entertainment and retail, industrial production, quality inspection, and medical imaging.

It also expects to extend its competence in the artificial intelligence field to Science's network of researchers, such as those in astrology or geology studies.

It is now tailoring its capability of gathering and processing visual information for various industries and scenarios, such as the recognition of individuals in photos for public security authorities, reading X-rays, and making robotic systems on factory floors smarter.