PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Xiaohua Zhai

Also known as 翟晓华

Xiaohua Zhai works on computer vision and language-image models, and his papers include Big Transfer, the Vision Transformer and SigLIP. He studied computer science at Peking University, completing a PhD between 2009 and 2014. He joined Google in 2015 as a software engineer and later moved to Google DeepMind in 2023. In December 2024, OpenAI set up a Zurich office and hired him, Lucas Beyer and Alexander Kolesnikov, all from Google DeepMind. He has been part of Meta's superintelligence team since 2025.

Now at
Meta
Works
73

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 2009–2014

    A PhD at Peking University

    He studies computer science at Peking University, completing a PhD there between 2009 and 2014.

  2. 2015–2023

    A software engineer at Google

    He joins Google in 2015 as a software engineer, moves to Google Brain in 2017, and later moves to Google DeepMind in 2023.

  3. December 2019

    Big Transfer (BiT) paper

    He co-writes Big Transfer (BiT), a paper on general visual representation learning, submitted to arXiv in December 2019.

  4. October 2020

    The Vision Transformer

    He co-writes the Vision Transformer (ViT) paper, An Image is Worth 16x16 Words, submitted to arXiv in October 2020.

  5. March 2023

    The SigLIP sigmoid loss

    He co-writes a paper on a sigmoid loss for language-image pre-training (SigLIP), submitted to arXiv in March 2023.

  6. December 2024

    An OpenAI office in Zurich

    In December 2024, OpenAI sets up a Zurich office and hires him, Lucas Beyer and Alexander Kolesnikov, three researchers from Google DeepMind.

  7. June 2025

    A move to Meta

    In June 2025, Meta hires him, Lucas Beyer and Alexander Kolesnikov from OpenAI to bolster its superintelligence efforts.

  8. Since 2025

    Meta's superintelligence team

    He is part of Meta's superintelligence team.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Xiaohua Zhai - People in crypto | IQ.wiki iq.wiki. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. [1912.11370] Big Transfer (BiT): General Visual Representation Learning arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. [2010.11929] An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. [2303.15343] Sigmoid Loss for Language Image Pre-Training arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. OpenAI opens office in Switzerland – including new employees | heise online heise.de. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. OpenAI sets up office in Zurich | Greater Zurich greaterzuricharea.com. Checked 15 October 2026.
  7. Meta Poaches Three Zurich-based OpenAI Researchers for New Superintelligence Unit – Outlook Business outlookbusiness.com. Checked 15 October 2026.