Ex-ByteDance Robotics Lead Kong Tao Joins Xiaomi for Base Model R&D
创业邦 · wechat · 2026-08-10
Several significant AI industry personnel moves and strategic shifts have occurred recently. Kong Tao, former head of ByteDance's robotics team, has joined Xiaomi to lead its robotic base model team, bringing along several former colleagues. Xiaomi's robotics division currently has about 200 employees and operates under strict internal secrecy.
Other key updates include: Jeff Dean's first public appearance since leaving Google, discussing the "small team + massive compute" logic behind his new startup DiscoveryLoop; OpenAI's acquisition of AI presentation startup NextSlide; and Apple briefly publishing then deleting a support document for integrating Alibaba's Qwen models with Apple Intelligence in China. Additionally, Meta's CTO explicitly stated that AI-driven productivity gains should be used to build more products, not to grant employees more vacation time.
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