Baidu COO Qi Lu Out; Haifeng Wang Named New AI Group Senior VP

Baidu announced this morning that COO Qi Lu will leave his position in July due to “personal and family reasons.” Baidu shares fell 7% on the news. Baidu also promoted Dr. Haifeng Wang to Senior Vice President and General Manager of Baidu AI Group.

Qi Lu said: “In more than a year’s time at Baidu, I really appreciated Baidu and Robin’s belief in technology and their persistence. Especially in the era of AI, technology will surely lead Baidu to the forefront of the entire industry. I am privileged to have participated in Baidu’s great transition to AI.” Lu will continue to serve as a Baidu vice-chairman.

Baidu Chairman and CEO Robin Li had kind words for the departing COO: “Since Lu Qi joined Baidu in January last year, the company has undergone a lot of positive changes. Like my colleagues, I have a keen understanding of his integrity, dedication, and technical and business acumen. I was very impressed.”

Baidu’s new senior vice president Haifeng Wang has a strong R&D background. He graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology and joined Baidu in 2010, becoming a vice president in 2013. Wang will lead Baidu’s AI Group and Baidu Research, aiming to strengthen Baidu’s capabilities in machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, image recognition and augmented reality etc.

Said Robin Li, “Dr. Wang Haifeng has practical experience and a clear and pragmatic, self-driven, responsible engineer style. He been Baidu’s technical leader for many years and is an excellent representative of Baidu’s culture. Please join me in congratulating HaiFeng on his promotion.”

In his email announcement Robin Li said Baidu development leaders Zhang Yaqin, Xiang Hailong, Wang Haifeng, Zhu Guang and others such as Smart Living Group GM Kun Jing will be reporting directly to him for the short term.