人物专访 | 李世鹏，国际欧亚科学院院士

Q: 首先恭喜您今年获得“国际欧亚科学院院士”荣誉, 对此您有想要分享的感言吗？

Q: First of all, I would like to congratulate you on receiving the honor of ‘academician of International Eurasian Academy of Sciences’ this year. Do you have any comments that you want to share with us?

Tips：国际欧亚科学院成立于1994年，是由世界各国著名科学家、技术专家、文化活动家组成的科学团体。它通过科学、技术、文化、艺术等领域科学家、技术专家与社会活动家的共同努力与通力合作，促进世界科学技术的发展的同时，也尝试着去解决一些当今社会所面临的各种问题。

Tips: The International Eurasian Academy of Sciences (IEAS), founded in 1994, is a scientific community consisted of well-known scientists, technical experts and cultural activists from multiple countries. Through the joint efforts and cooperation of scientists, technical experts and social activists in science, technology, culture, art and other fields, it promotes the development of science and technology in the world, in the meanwhile, it also tries to solve some problems that faced by today's society.

A: 今年我当选为国际欧亚科学院院士，是我莫大的荣誉。这也是对我以及我的合作者们工作的一种认可，我在这里向我的合作者们表示衷心的感谢！我相信国际欧亚科学院这个平台，会给予我更多更大的机会，我也将会利用我的才智服务于社会，让世界因我而不同。

A: It is my honor to be elected as the Fellow of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences and an acknowledgement to the works of me and my collaborators, to whom I hereby extend my sincere gratitude. IEAS is a platform that will provide me with more opportunities to serve the society with my knowledge and abilities and to make a difference in the world.

Q: 您是中国科大至今唯一的两次获得郭沫若奖学金的学霸，请问您在学术研究的道路上，如何选定人工智能作为您的研究方向？Q: You are the only 'super scholar' to have won the ‘Guo Moruo Scholarship’ twice at UTSC. How did you choose artificial intelligence as your field on the road of scientific research?
A: 我们那个时候还没有学霸一说。郭沫若奖学金是共和国首个奖学金，也是中国科技大学的最高荣誉。我有幸获得两次郭沫若奖学金, 本科一次和研究生一次，这对我来说，倒是有一点纯属偶然。因为在我之后，研究生便不再颁发郭沫若奖学金了。其实刚进校的时候包袱很多，成绩不是很理想。但是，在后来的时间里，我尝试着给自己减压，尝试着去按照自己的节奏用心学习，不急躁，不气馁，不自高自大，也不妄自菲薄，不和别人攀比。
A: We didn’t have the word ‘super scholar’ back in those days. The Guo Moruo Scholarship was the first scholarship of the Republic, and the highest honor UTSC provided. It was purely by chance that I won the scholarship twice, once as an undergraduate and once as graduate, because the scholarship was no longer awarded to graduates after me. In fact, when I first came to school, I had a lot of burdens, and my grades were not satisfactory. Later, I tried easing myself of the pressure and learned wholeheartedly at my own pace. Without the impatience, disheartenment, arrogance, self-underestimation and rivalries, my grades gradually went up.
至于选定人工智能方向为现在的研究方向，也是慢慢转化过来的。我的研究方向先后经历了很多变化，从无线通信、到图像处理、视频编码、视频通信与流媒体、互联网与云计算、多媒体内容分析和理解、图像和视频搜索、计算机视觉、物联网等，最后才到了人工智能这样一个大的领域，基本上和科技发展的时代趋势相吻合。一方面,作为科学家，他总要去解决社会发展亟需的科学问题，而另一方面，作为一个科学家，他受到的训练是分析问题和解决问题的能力。所以在一个大的信息领域比较容易切换到不同的细分领域。对于这些科学家来说，正是因为涉猎了各种不同的领域，因此他们看问题的视角可能和特别钻研一门专门技术的研究者不太一样。我算比较幸运的，每次总能在新的技术领域要起飞之前就能抓住一些先机，做好预研工作以迎接更大的机会。 As for the selection of artificial intelligence as the current research direction, it is also transferred gradually. My research direction has experienced number of alterations, from wireless communication, to image processing, video coding, video communication and streaming media, Internet and cloud computing, multimedia content analysis and understanding, image and video search, computer vision, Internet of things and so on. Finally, I came to such a large field as artificial intelligence, which basically coincides with the trend of science and technology development.On one hand, as a scientist, he always has to solve the urgent scientific problems in social development; on the other hand, the training of scientists is the ability to analyze and solve problems. So it is easy to switch to different subdivision areas in a large information area. To those scientists, who have been involved in various fields, the perspective of looking at the problem may be different from that of the researchers who are particularly engaged in a specialized technology. I'm lucky that I can always seize some opportunities before new technology fields take off and do a good job in pre-research to meet greater opportunities.

Q: 20年前，您作为第一批回国加入建设微软亚洲研究院的人员，见证了行业的发展和腾飞。现今以互联网为核心的新一轮科技和产业革命蓄势待发，习近平总书记更是指出人工智能是引领新一轮科技革命和产业变革的重要驱动力，您对行业的未来有怎样的期待？Q: Twenty years ago, you as one of the first personnel to return to China and joined Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) and participated in the construction of Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA). You witnessed the development and soaring of the industry. Now the new round of technology and industrial revolution based on Internet is about to begin. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that artificial intelligence is an important driving force that leading the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. What kind of expectation do you have for the future of the industry?
A: 我应该属于有幸见证中国互联网从萌芽状态到目前领先世界这一整个发展过程的一批人。所有今天的互联网巨头，在我99年刚回国的时候，要么还没有成立，要么还在探索技术和商业的创新。如今，很高兴地看到在互联网以及移动互联网领域，这些企业领先世界，这也是一个必然的趋势。当然，今天的人工智能热潮给中国带来的机会甚至比过去的互联网和移动互联网带来的机会更大更多。作为一个科学家，我觉得有两方面的职责，一方面，在自己的研究领域去创造的重大突破；另一方面，则是大力培养在此专业领域的人才。我很庆幸在过去20年里，在我自己的研究领域，这些我都做到了。尤其是要感谢Bill Gates先生，他设立的微软亚洲研究院为中国IT领域、人工智能领域培养了大批的领军人才。在中国几乎所有的AI独角兽和巨头公司里都可以看到他们的主导作用。
A: I considered myself belong to a group of people who have the honor to witness the whole process of China's Internet development from germination to leading the world at present. All today's Internet giants, when I returned to China in 1999, were either not established or still exploring technological and commercial innovation. Now, it is delightful to see that in the field of Internet and mobile Internet, these enterprises lead the world, which is also an inevitable trend. Of course, today's AI boom brings about even more opportunities to China than the Internet and mobile Internet in the past.As a scientist, I think he has two responsibilities: on one hand, to make a major breakthrough in his own research field; on the other hand, to vigorously cultivate a large number of talents in this professional field. I'm very glad that in the past 20 years, in my own research field, these have been achieved. In particular, I would like to thank Mr. Bill Gates who has established Microsoft Research Asia that cultivated a large number of leading talents in the field of IT and artificial intelligence in China. Their leading roles can be seen in almost all AI unicorns and giant companies in China.
目前我们看到了基于大数据和深度学习的人工智能算法在实际应用中取得很多成功，但它最终会受限于大数据的瓶颈，因此，现在的人工智能充其量还只是一个弱人工智能。而发达国家现在已经开始在研究基于因果关系的，具有推理能力的新的人工智能框架，我觉得这是一个很有潜力的未来研究方向。在这个方面，中国和其他国家都处在同一个起跑线上，我觉得我们不能再错过这样一个发展强人工智能的机会。总之我觉得未来的人工智能行业的发展要两条腿走路，一条腿要继续加强加宽人工智能的应用领域；另一条腿，我觉得更重要的是加强人工智能领域的基础研究，尽快建立一个新型的强人工智能的框架。
At present, we have seen that the AI algorithm based on big data and deep learning has achieved a lot of success in practical application, but it will eventually be limited by the bottleneck of big data, so the current AI is only a weak AI at best. The developed countries have begun to study a new AI framework with inferential ability based on causality, which I think is a potential research direction in the future. In this aspect, China and other countries are on the same starting line, and I think we can no longer miss such an opportunity to develop a strong artificial intelligence. In a word, I think the future development of artificial intelligence industry needs two approaches, one is to continue to strengthen and widen the application field of artificial intelligence; the other is to strengthen the fundamental research in the field of artificial intelligence, and establish a new framework of strong artificial intelligence as soon as possible.

Q: AIRS作为深圳市新设立的十大基础研究机构之一，您为什么会选择AIRS，对AIRS的未来怎么看？Q: AIRS is one of the top ten newly established fundamental research facilities in Shenzhen. Were there moments of hesitation when you joined AIRS and what is your view of its prospect?

A: AIRS以人工智能和机器人的基础研究为主要研究方向，力求在理论、框架、算法等方面有所突破，最终达到世界领先水平。同时它立足于深圳，服务于深圳的产业，这使得研究成果转化成能影响国民经济的具体的产品，从而提升中国人工智能和机器人产品的核心竞争力。这对人工智能和机器人研究领域的科学家们来说是一个梦想的平台。AIRS占据了所有的热门关键词：人工智能、机器人、基础研究、技术转化和创新、国际化、人才政策、香港中文大学（深圳）、深圳、大湾区、中国特色社会主义先行示范区等等。我觉得任何一个人工智能与机器人领域的研究者都应该毫不犹豫地加入。
A: AIRS takes the fundamental research of artificial intelligence and robot as the main research direction, striving to make breakthroughs in theory, framework, algorithm and other aspects, and finally reach the world leading level. At the same time, it is based in Shenzhen and serves the industry of Shenzhen, which enables it to quickly transform research results into specific products that can impact the national economy, so as to enhance the core competitiveness of artificial intelligence and robot products. This is a dream platform for scientists in the field of artificial intelligence and robot research. AIRS occupies all the hot keywords: artificial intelligence, robotics, fundamental research, technology transformation and innovation, internationalization, talent policy, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen , Shenzhen, the Greater Bay Area, ect. I think any researcher in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics should join in without hesitation. 我对此信心满满，也深信AIRS一定能在不久的将来，在人工智能与机器人领域，展现出当年微软亚洲研究院的辉煌，同时也将为产业的发展带来源源不断的创新，成为世界上最好的人工智能与机器人基础研究机构之一。I have faith in this, and I am also deeply convinced that AIRS will be able to show the brilliance of Microsoft Research Asia in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics in the near future. At the same time, it will bring continuous innovation to the industrial development and become one of the best fundamental research institutions of artificial intelligence and robotics in the world.