Alibaba founder Jack Ma returns to China to discuss impact of artificial intelligence on education
- On Monday, Ma visited Yungu School in Hangzhou, which was funded by Alibaba founders in 2017, to discuss the impact of AI on education
- Although Ma has faded from public view, his whereabouts have become a litmus test for the friendliness of China’s business environment
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group Holding, returned to China recently after nearly a year of overseas travel, and visited a school he founded in the city of Hangzhou.
On Monday, Ma met teachers and students at Hangzhou Yungu School, a private school covering kindergarten to high school, that was funded by Alibaba founders in 2017, according to sources familiar with Ma’s schedule, and later confirmed by a post the school published on its WeChat account.
According to the post, Ma discussed with the school’s faculty the future of education in the era of rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “We must use AI to solve problems, not to be controlled by AI,” Ma was quoted saying
The billionaire added that technologies like ChatGPT have posed challenges for educators, and that it was only the beginning of the era of AI, according to the school’s statement. Ma, who was an English teacher before founding Alibaba, said teaching was his favourite profession and he hopes he could return to it one day.
02:17
After long absence from China, Jack Ma makes rare appearance to visit school in Hangzhou
Ma returned to China after a brief stop over in Hong Kong, where he met friends and also briefly visited Art Basel. Ma is known to be very passionate about painting and the arts.
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.