Taiwan’s technology circle is mourning the death of data scientist and artificial intelligence (AI) expert Chen Sheng-wei (陳昇瑋), who died on Monday aged 44 from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Chen reportedly went into a coma after exercising last weekend, despite receiving emergency treatment.
Chen, an adjunct research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Information Science, in January 2018 helped establish the Taiwan AI Academy, which said that it has fostered more than 6,000 AI professionals.
Photo courtesy of the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association
He also served as the academy’s executive director.
Chen in February 2018 was also recruited by E.Sun Financial Holding Co to serve as its chief technology officer.
In June last year, he published a Chinese-language book titled Artificial Intelligence in Taiwan: The Opportunity and Challenge of Industrial Transformation (人工智慧在台灣:產業轉型的契機與挑戰).
“I developed an indescribable interest in programming after I started to use a computer at age 10,” he wrote in the preface, titled “The Beginning and Destination of a Crossover Journey.”
“While many people think of me as a boundary-spanner, only I myself understand there is no boundary among academic, industrial and social contributions in my mind,” he wrote. “Technology brings about radical change and subversion, while I am supposed to be wherever I can make a contribution.”
Taiwan AI Labs founder Ethan Tu (杜奕瑾) yesterday wrote on Facebook that he met Chen 25 years ago when Chen was operating an online bulletin board system at National Tsing Hua University and he was operating Professional Technology Temple — which became the nation’s largest online academic bulletin board system.
Taiwan’s AI achievements over the years have been remarkable and there are more AI talents who will grow into experts like Chen, Tu wrote.
“Chen Sheng-wei was a gifted man hard to find in 100 years,” Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said in a statement on Monday, adding that Chen was a man of creativity and action with outstanding leadership skills.
“I am deeply grieved to lose such a great talent, researcher and friend, but I am also convinced that more people like Chen Sheng-wei will be discovered in various corners of Taiwan,” Liao added.
Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and vice president-elect William Lai (賴清德) also expressed their sorrow over Chen Sheng-wei’s death and vowed to continue his dream of promoting AI development in Taiwan.
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