China’s SenseTime reshapes to concentrate on generative AI progress

BEIJING (Reuters) – Loss-making Chinese language AI firm SenseTime Group stated on Tuesday it has accomplished a serious organizational restructuring geared toward ramping up its shift towards generative AI applied sciences.

The Hong Kong-listed firm, beforehand centered on laptop imaginative and prescient and surveillance applied sciences, has accelerated its transformation into generative AI following the industry-wide surge triggered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

SenseTime was one in every of China’s hottest AI companies however has fallen behind rivals amid the generative AI growth. Its shares have dropped 61% from their concern value three years in the past.

The corporate needs to make generative AI its core enterprise to drive progress, profitability and monetary soundness, it stated in a submitting to the Hong Kong inventory alternate.

The restructuring comes as SenseTime’s laptop imaginative and prescient enterprise declines, with its “conventional AI” section down 50.6% within the first half of this 12 months. The corporate has but to show a revenue since its founding a decade in the past.

SenseTime launched its giant language mannequin, SenseNova, in early 2023, claiming capabilities akin to OpenAI’s newest GPT model.

In 2021, the USA put SenseTime on an export controls checklist alleging it had created facial-recognition software program used to oppress Uyghur Muslims. The corporate stated on the time the accusation was unfounded and that it was compliant with legal guidelines.

SenseTime’s restructuring units up a number of enterprise items, with separate CEOs, together with for sensible auto, home robotics, sensible healthcare, and sensible retail, the corporate stated in its submitting.