PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Keyu Tian

Keyu Tian is a computer-vision researcher whose work spans image augmentation, self-supervised learning, and generative models. His papers in 2020 and 2021 sped up image-augmentation search and explored continuous optimization, and he began interning at ByteDance in 2021. After switching from materials science to software engineering, he entered Peking University’s data-science master’s program in 2022. In 2023, he coauthored SparK for masked pretraining on convolutional networks; his 2024 VAR paper introduced next-scale image generation and won a NeurIPS Best Paper award. ByteDance dismissed and sued him over alleged interference with internal AI training in 2024; as of October 2026, he is building a startup for world models.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 2020

    Weight sharing for image augmentation

    In 2020, he coauthors “Improving Auto-Augment via Augmentation-Wise Weight Sharing,” which evaluates image-augmentation policies with a fast proxy task based on shared weights.

  2. 2021

    Continuous image augmentation

    At NeurIPS in 2021, he coauthors “A Continuous Mapping for Augmentation Design,” which uses continuous optimization to explore image transformations. He begins interning at ByteDance in 2021.

  3. 2022

    Materials to software engineering

    He switches from materials science to software engineering during college. In 2022, he enrolls at Peking University for a master’s degree in data science after graduating from Beihang University’s School of Software.

  4. 2023

    Sparse masked pretraining

    In 2023, he coauthors “Designing BERT for Convolutional Networks: Sparse and Hierarchical Masked Modeling,” which presents SparK for masked pretraining on convolutional networks with sparse convolution and a hierarchical decoder.

  5. 2024

    Next-scale image generation

    In 2024, he coauthors “Visual Autoregressive Modeling: Scalable Image Generation via Next-Scale Prediction,” which generates images through coarse-to-fine next-scale prediction.

  6. August 2024–October 2026

    A ByteDance lawsuit

    ByteDance dismisses him in August 2024 and files a suit in November 2024, alleging code changes disrupted an internal AI training project. In 2026, he says he uses code to stop another intern’s program to free computing resources; a first-instance court orders him to pay 500,000 yuan, and ByteDance appeals.

  7. 2024

    A NeurIPS Best Paper

    NeurIPS selects his coauthored VAR paper for a 2024 main-track Best Paper award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Building world models

    He is building a startup that develops world models for robotics and interactive video. His team has made an AI dictionary with 200,000 symbols to process video.

Career

  1. From 2021ByteDanceIntern

Education

  1. 2022Beihang University
  2. From 2022Peking UniversityMaster’s degree in data science

From the biography.

  1. Google alumni have founded or led 133 other organizations, more than any other AI labIncludes ByteDance. We estimate that alumni of 17 major AI labs went on to found or lead 350 other organizations, including 226 they founded, and we trace 472 career moves directly between 23 labs since 2010.
  2. Among employers with 30+ full-time cases, OpenAI leads primary technical role H-1B pay at $310,000, and Amazon, Google and Microsoft file 57% of all casesIncludes ByteDance. Across 440,669 certified US H-1B filings from 44 employers (FY2020–FY2026), OpenAI leads primary technical role base pay at $310,000 and xAI leads overall base pay at $290,000.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes ByteDance. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes ByteDance. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Keyu Tian yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. [2009.14737] Improving Auto-Augment via Augmentation-Wise Weight Sharing arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Publication robots.ox.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. A Continuous Mapping For Augmentation Design papers.nips.cc. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. A Conversation with Tian Keyu: The Year After Being Fired by ByteDance, Sued, and Besieged by Public Opinion | PANews English panews.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Fired for Poisoning ByteDance's AI, His Startup Now Hits $200 Million Valuation eu.36kr.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. [2301.03580] Designing BERT for Convolutional Networks: Sparse and Hierarchical Masked Modeling arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Visual Autoregressive Modeling: Scalable Image Generation via Next-Scale Prediction papers.nips.cc. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. ByteDance seeks $1.1 million damages from intern in AI breach case, report says finance.yahoo.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. NeurIPS 2024 Awards neurips.cc. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Ex-ByteDance intern raises $30M for stealth China world-models startup | Dealroom News dealroom.co. Checked 21 October 2026.