According to reports from "Intelligent Emergence," Hong Tao, co-founder and former head of commercialization at Baichuan Intelligence, has left the company. Sources close to Baichuan Intelligence indicate that Hong is no longer involved in the company's daily operations and that he has been gone for some time. Baichuan Intelligence stated that Hong left for personal reasons and expressed gratitude for his contributions to building the commercialization team during the company's early days.
It is known that Hong Tao was the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Sogou, where he successfully helped the company rank among the top six in internet advertising revenue. In July 2023, Hong co-founded Baichuan Intelligence with former Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan and COO Ru Liyun, overseeing the company's commercialization efforts. According to company news, Baichuan Intelligence currently serves thousands of clients, including industry leaders such as North Electric Intelligence, Perfect World, iQIYI, and 360.
Hong Tao's departure has raised concerns about the challenges faced by startups in the large model sector. In the second half of this year, several key members from large model unicorns have chosen to leave or start their own ventures, including Huang Wenhao, Vice President of Zero One Algorithm, and the digital overseas product head of "The Dark Side of the Moon."
Industry insiders point out that the frequent departures of core personnel reflect the immense pressure large model companies face in terms of commercialization and technological competition. An investor noted that Chinese large model enterprises not only need to resolve internal commercialization issues but also contend with the accelerated technological advancements of external competitors like OpenAI.
Previously reported by "Intelligent Emergence," among the six Chinese large model companies referred to as the "AI Six Little Tigers," two have already abandoned pre-trained models in favor of application layer development. How to achieve growth and monetization during the application phase has become a pressing issue for large model companies.
