“But the framework of OneFlow is faster than Google’s, and I believe our ecosystem could eventually compete with theirs.”

04:04

Hong Kong company aims to mass produce human-like robots for health care uses

Hong Kong company aims to mass produce human-like robots for health care uses

OneFlow is a newcomer in the area of open-source AI frameworks for machine learning, which is similar to operating systems for personal computers.

While Google and Facebook are the preferred frameworks globally, major Chinese technology firms are racing to come up with their own: Huawei developed Mindspore, Megvii launched MegEngine, and Baidu has its Paddle Paddle platform.

Beijing named AI as a key technology to develop in its 14th five-year plan, with the area expected to be a battlefield for China and the US as they jostle for supremacy.

US leads world on artificial intelligence but China is catching up: study

While China’s main advantage comes from the vast amounts of data from its 1.4 billion people, the country still has yet to figure out how to rapidly train its AI models using massive data inputs.

While working as an AI scientist at Microsoft Research Asia to create a large-scale machine learning platform in 2014, Yuan developed a light training algorithm system using only dozens of servers that could process highly complex calculations.

The achievement brought Yuan recognition as the system was used in Microsoft’s search engine and gave him an inkling about the future growth potential of data and AI models. It also echoed his research into computational neuroscience for his post-doctoral degree.

“Biological neural networks are at least 1,000 times larger than the current largest artificial ones, which means the scale of the framework would be a key component for future AI development,” Yuan said. 

Seeing the huge demand for data and AI models, he left Microsoft and created OneFlow, which supports AI applications in image processing, voice recognition, text and ad recommendation systems.

Last year, the company’s revenue was 13 million yuan (US$2 million), but Yuan expects that to double this year as more customers are willing to try a domestic AI framework.

Researchers believe new AI frameworks have a chance to shine. “The current popular frameworks were designed about eight years ago with an original goal to support supervised models, such as those for computer vision,” said Luo Mai, an assistant professor at the University of Edinburgh and a specialist in machine learning systems.

“Those models are much smaller compared to the giant AI models that are emerging today. Nowadays, we are expecting a framework that is designed to support much bigger models and target wider applications.”

At the same time, Beijing is throwing support behind its own AI labs to cut reliance on US tools. Despite an ambitious plan to become a global leader in AI by 2030, nearly all small- to mid-sized Chinese AI companies rely on open-source platforms from the US.

“Open-source deep learning frameworks are fundamental and critical for AI technology, and 90 per cent of current applications in the market are rooted in them,” said Lu Yanxia, associate research director at IDC China. “It is a problem you cannot get around for a domestic replacement in AI innovation.”

Huawei, the telecoms giant struggling under strict US trade sanctions, is investing significant sums to build an AI ecosystem, from deep learning frameworks to AI chips and cloud computing.

“The best scenario for AI frameworks is to combine novel software design with hardware innovation because such a combination can often lead to tens or even hundreds of times improvement in computational efficiency,” said the University of Edinburgh’s Mai.

“It will give the framework an unsurpassed competitive advantage.

Yuan’s vision for OneFlow is for it to become the most popular AI framework in the world. To achieve that goal at home first, the company is working with the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence and Hangzhou-based Zhejiang Lab, along with top-tier universities and institutions, including Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and the Chinese Academy of Science, to give students and academia the chance to know and use OneFlow. 

It is also winning over investors. In February, A-round fundraising with Hillhouse raised 50 million yuan, (US$7.7 million) and since then more investors have expressed interest.

Yuan said OneFlow has received local government support in the form of tax breaks, talent recruitment and R&D funding, and in March Beijing’s Communist Party secretary, Cai Qi, visited the company’s headquarters, a sign of the high level of support for technology innovation.

Since launching four years ago, OneFlow’s staff has grown from three, including Yuan, to more than 50. These days, Yuan said he chases investors during the day and writes code at night - a lifestyle that baffled his former colleagues and frustrated his family.

“I was running into walls all the time. Former colleagues couldn’t understand why I gave up a stable job and started a company … even my family couldn’t agree with me,” said Yuan, who added that investors have been more rational about his vision.

Raised by parents who worked as wheat farmers in northern Hebei province, Yuan was the top student at his school.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Xidian University in northwestern Shaanxi province, he was admitted to a doctoral programme at Tsinghua University, studying with Zhang Bo, a well-known AI scientist in China and a fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

“I have always been looking for a sense of accomplishment. Everyone should do the same, look for areas where they have a competitive edge,” Yuan said.