WeChat's AI project sees 'mobile secretaries' coming soon

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has partnered with Tencent's mobile messaging app, WeChat, to expand its research in artificial intelligence and big data. The big data from WeChat will help university students research areas such as sentiment analysis of postings and analysis of users’ moods. Scientists also plans to harness WeChat's data to help improve the way language is processed on the app. Talking about the project, Professor Yang Qiang, Head of the HKUST-WeChat Joint Laboratory on Artificial Intelligence said, “soft robots that can, for example, analyse a WeChat user’s reading preferences to deliver morning news summaries, are close to becoming a reality."

Professor Yang Qiang, head of the HKUST-WeChat Joint Laboratory on Artificial Intelligence (WHAT LAB), poses in the school’s server room in this file picture. Photo: Dickson Lee