AsiaIndustrial NetNews: On the afternoon of May 4th Youth Day, Baidu CEO Robin Li released an internal letter, saying that Baidu’s mission should be expanded to “use technology to make the complex world simpler”.
Li Yanhong first told a not very funny joke in the letter, saying that most of Baidu’s employees with an average age of 26 are already middle-aged, and this year’s 17-year-old Baidu is in the rainy season.
He talked about the mission when he founded Baidu, which is to “allow people to obtain information in the most equal and convenient way to find what they are looking for”. Today, although there are endless information searchable on Baidu, there are still many complicated things in this world. , we need to take the time to learn and adapt.
“In today’s fast-changing technology world, the world is still so complex and cumbersome, and it is essentially the same as 17 years ago when people had inconvenient and unequal access to information.”
Therefore, Baidu will expand its mission to “use technology to make the complex world simpler”, and the way to accomplish this mission is artificial intelligence. Robin Li said, “We deploy artificial intelligence to allow machines to acquire some of the capabilities of humans, and to allow more people to use technology without barriers and enjoy technological achievements conveniently.”
Google’s mission, on the other hand, has remained the same: to bring together the world’s information so that everyone can access and benefit from it. But as the company expanded, so did the debate about Google’s mission.
When Google acquired Nest, someone asked what does this have to do with Google? Larry Page responded that Google’s mission may not accommodate the company’s ambitions, acknowledging that “maybe it’s too narrow.”
Later, in August 2015, Google further restructured and established a new parent company, Alphabet, to separate all businesses unrelated to information integration and parallel Google.
Both companies are adapting their missions in different ways.
The following is the full text of the internal letter:
“To Our 17-Year-Old: Using Technology to Make a Complex World Simpler”
Dear Baidu students:
Today is May Fourth Youth Day. I have bad news and good news for you all.
The bad news is that according to the new standard of the United Nations, people between the ages of 15 and 24 belong to the category of “youth”, which means that in our Baidu family with an average age of 26, most of the classmates are already Middle-aged by definition.
However, the good news is that according to this standard, the 17-year-old Baidu is just like a youth in the rainy season, full of infinite vitality and vitality.
In fact, I believe that youth should never be simply defined by age – “Youth” is a spirit of forging ahead, a state of mind that is not satisfied with the status quo, and it is also talked about by those who are eager to change the world. The light that shines in your eyes when you dream.
No matter when, the dreams and expectations in our hearts remain unchanged, and the courage and perseverance to struggle remain unchanged.
Today is May Fourth Youth Day, a festival in the name of youth. Every time I approach this festival, I can feel a kind of respect and enthusiasm.
The brilliance of the “May Fourth” is reflected in the history of the Chinese nation, not only because it is a historical event involving the national movement and people’s wisdom, but also because the young people nearly 100 years ago, those who are as handsome as today’s Baidu classmates Mao, a promising young man, regards changing the world as the mission and responsibility of youth, and goes forward one after another, opening a new chapter in an era.
This made me seem to see myself back then, standing in a bookstore in a small town in Shanxi, looking at the few computer books on the shelf across the counter, and the most simple dream came up from the bottom of my heart, to find a way to make People are the same distance from information and knowledge no matter where they are.
This kind of dream later became the theme of my study and growth. It was not until the establishment of Baidu at the turn of the century and the mission of “allowing people to obtain information in the most equal and convenient way to find what they are looking for”, and it really set sail.
17 years have passed in a flash. We push this mission forward every day without ever stopping and striving for the ultimate.
Today, through Baidu, information is at the fingertips of every Internet user. For us, this is not only the luck of being in this era, but also the pride of being witnesses and participants of history.
But we also see that although people can search for endless information on Baidu today, even though the feedback of our search results has been calculated in milliseconds, there are still many complicated things in this world, and we need to spend time Learning and adaptation make our lives very inconvenient:
The elderly are still struggling with whether they should ask young people for help because they don’t understand how to operate a mobile phone; naive children still need to be taught by their parents. Every time we put our food in the refrigerator, it is best to remember it, so as not to miss the expiration date; our travel needs to go through strict tests and big and small thrills, and we also have to stick a “newbie on the road, please” on the car. “Excuse me,” apology; when we withdraw and spend money, we have to go through identity authentication; we go to work, parties, and travel, and we have to go through various access control and security checks; every time a new electrical appliance appears, we have to be suspicious “Am I too stupid to even learn this?”
Today, with the rapid advancement of technology, the world is still so complicated and cumbersome, and it is essentially the same as 17 years ago when people had inconvenient and unequal access to information. In human history, access to information has never been easier and more convenient than it is today, but now, this is just the first step in the “Long March”. There are still many complicated things in this world, waiting for us to make them simpler. More dependable!
Such a vision was unimaginable in the early days of PC search or mobile search. After 17 years of industrial baptism, and through technological refinement from cloud computing, big data, and deep learning, we not only have the ability to see these things that were originally time-consuming, labor-intensive, cumbersome and complex, but have the opportunity to become simpler, and we are more capable, It is your responsibility to make these seemingly impossible things truly possible!
For Baidu, from a few years ago to a foreseeable period of time, the focus has been on artificial intelligence. Our deployment of artificial intelligence is to allow machines to acquire some of the capabilities of humans, and to allow more people to use technology without barriers and enjoy technological achievements conveniently.
Therefore, today, we must unequivocally expand Baidu’s mission to “use technology to make the complex world simpler”, which is to use the power of artificial intelligence and other innovative technologies to simplify the complex and awaken everything! Let our business radiate new vitality and inject new era value into our mission!
It is hoped that one day in the future, product instructions, user manuals, and other things with the imprint of the previous era will be swept into the museum of history by the power of technological innovation.
We let the steering wheel turn by itself, so that we can control more life; we let the machine speak, so as to have more time to talk with our family… We will use the brush of artificial intelligence that represents the future world to outline a more reliable, simpler life. Let users spend their time in a better place, and leave the complicated stuff to us!
The wheels of history are rolling forward, and we are about to embrace a new technological revolution destined to go down in history. We have stood on the same starting line with the most outstanding companies in the world.
“Five hundred years of new ideas are advanced, and they will become old in a thousand years.” How artificial intelligence will eventually make the world look new, we can imagine now, but it will definitely exceed our imagination.
But there is one thing for sure, that is, in this technological wave set off by artificial intelligence, Baidu will definitely ride the whales and ride the sea, ride the wind, and completely transform from the world’s largest Chinese search engine to the world’s leading artificial intelligence technology. company!
In a few months, Baidu will turn 18. The new mission of “using technology to make the complex world simpler” is the best “adult ceremony” for Baidu.
In the name of youth, let us embark on a new mission, turn the key of innovation, and open a new world of simplicity and happiness for people!
The Links: 3HAC041443-003 3HAC028357-001
