PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Shunyu Yao

Also known as 姚顺雨

Shunyu Yao is a language-agent researcher whose work connects model reasoning with tools and actions. He studied at Tsinghua's Yao Class and Princeton, and coauthored WebShop, ReAct and Tree of Thoughts, which let language models act in shopping sites, use external information, and explore multiple reasoning paths. He joined OpenAI in 2024 to work on AI agents; his selected work includes the Computer-Using Agent and Deep Research, and he coauthored τ-bench to test agents against domain rules. Since December 2025, he is Tencent's chief AI scientist; by June 2026, he heads the AI Infra and LLM departments and works on Hy3.

Now at
Tencent
Born
1998
Works
4
Links
Google Scholar, X and GitHub

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. By 2024

    Tsinghua and Princeton

    Born in 1998, he graduates from Tsinghua University's Yao Class and Princeton University before joining OpenAI in 2024.

  2. 2022

    WebShop and ReAct

    In 2022, Yao and collaborators develop WebShop, a simulated e-commerce environment with real-world products and crowd-sourced instructions. He also coauthors ReAct, which interleaves language-model reasoning traces with actions that gather information from outside sources.

  3. 2023

    Tree of Thoughts

    In 2023, he and six coauthors post Tree of Thoughts, a framework that explores multiple reasoning paths and evaluates choices before selecting a next step.

  4. 2024

    SWE-agent for software tasks

    In 2024, he coauthors SWE-agent, a system that helps language-model agents use computers to solve software-engineering tasks.

  5. 2024–2025

    OpenAI agents and τ-bench

    In 2024, he joins OpenAI as a core researcher focused on AI agents. He contributes to Deep Research, an agent that navigates and reasons over the Internet, and coauthors τ-bench to test agent-tool interaction against domain rules.

  6. 2025

    MIT Technology Review honor

    In May 2025, MIT Technology Review names him to its China “35 Innovators under 35” list as its youngest honoree.

  7. Since December 2025

    Chief AI scientist at Tencent

    In December 2025, Tencent appoints him chief AI scientist in the Office of the CEO and President.

  8. 2026

    AI Infra and LLM leadership

    By January 2026, he heads Tencent's AI Infra and LLM departments. Tencent releases the open-source Hy3 preview in April 2026; in June 2026, Yao is chief AI scientist and works on the model.

Career

  1. Since 2025TencentChief AI Scientist, Head of AI Infra and LLM departments
  2. 2024–2025OpenAICore Researcher

Education

  1. Tsinghua University
  2. Princeton University

From the biography.

Videos

YouTube videos in which Shunyu Yao speaks or appears, newest first. A model chose them from YouTube search results. List updated 20 October 2026.

  1. 27岁的姚顺雨履新腾讯首席AI科学家后首次公开发声LuoTech · 11 January 2026 · 26 min
  2. 115. 对OpenAI姚顺雨3小时访谈：6年Agent研究、人与系统、吞噬的边界、既单极又多元的世界Zhang Xiaojun Podcast · 11 September 2025 · 2 h 32 min
  3. Keynote Speech - Shunyu Yao [OpenAI]Q-FARM Stanford · 30 June 2025 · 25 min
  4. Fireside Chat on AI Agents — Michele Catasta & Shunyu YaoThe Curve · 10 January 2025 · 52 min

All 10 videos of Shunyu Yao

Video data from YouTube API Services. By watching you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. How we use YouTube data.

  1. Google alumni have founded or led 133 other organizations, more than any other AI labIncludes Shunyu Yao. 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. The median age of people shaping AI is about 10 years lower at companies than at universitiesIncludes Shunyu Yao. Our estimates of age across AI companies, universities and labs, how age at industry entry and company founding differs by career path, and the age range of lab leaders.
  3. 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 OpenAI. 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.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Tencent. 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.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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

  1. Ex-OpenAI researcher makes first public appearance since joining Tencent eyeshenzhen.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. WebShop: Towards Scalable Real-World Web Interaction with Grounded Language Agents arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Models arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. SWE-agent: Agent-Computer Interfaces Enable Automated Software Engineering arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. About – Shunyu Yao – 姚顺雨 ysymyth.github.io. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. τ-bench: A Benchmark for Tool-Agent-User Interaction in Real-World Domains arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Tencent Pushes Back on AI Lag Criticism, Calling AI a ‘Long-Term Game’ www2.yicaiglobal.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. Tencent Unveils Hy3 preview; Model Enhances Agent Capabilities and Real-World Usability tencent.com. Checked 20 October 2026.