Kai-Fu Lee
Also known as Kai Fu Lee Kai-Fu Lee 李开复
Kai-Fu Lee leads Sinovation Ventures and is founder and chief executive of 01.AI. His computer science career began with study at Columbia and Carnegie Mellon. He completed his doctorate in 1988 and developed the original Sphinx continuous speech recognition system with support from Raj Reddy and Roberto Bisiani. He later held executive roles at Apple, Silicon Graphics and Microsoft, and served as president of Google China. In 2009 he founded Sinovation Ventures, where he also leads its AI Institute. His 2018 book AI Superpowers discussed AI and economic change. He founded 01.AI in May 2023. The company’s Yi language models are the work of its credited technical team.
- Now at
- Sinovation Ventures and 01.AI
- Works
- 72
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.
Timeline
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1988
The Sphinx doctorate
Completed his doctorate and developed the original Sphinx speech recognition system in 1988.
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Before 2009
Leading Google China
Served as president of Google China before founding Sinovation.
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2009
Founding Sinovation Ventures
Founded Sinovation Ventures in 2009.
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2018
Writing about AI and economies
Published AI Superpowers in 2018.
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May 2023
Founding 01.AI
Founded 01.AI in May 2023.
Sources and credits
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