The desire to 'popularize AI' for Vietnamese people

(VTC News) - Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong always aspires to popularize AI to Vietnamese people. He was honored by the Hanoi Youth Union as one of the 10 outstanding young faces of the capital in 2023.

Go where you lead

Director of Artificial Intelligence at FPT Software Nguyen Xuan Phong, born in 1989, is one of 100 young intellectuals participating in the Vietnam Innovation Network, acting as a representative connecting the Mila Research Institute (Quebec Artificial Intelligence Center in Montreal, Canada) with FPT Corporation to build the world's leading AI Research Center in Quy Nhon (Binh Dinh).

Before that, he was famous for "going wherever he goes, leading there". At the age of 9, Phong won first prize in the National Creative Software Competition. Since then, Phong's educational path at Hanoi - Amsterdam School has always been associated with awards in IT competitions. After graduating from high school, Phong went to Singapore to study Business Administration at Coventry University. Access to education that always requires thinking and expressing personal opinions helps the student not only mature every day but also be equipped with basic knowledge of information technology, economics and business administration. Leaving Singapore, Phong continued to earn a Master's degree in Information Technology at Carnegie Mellon University (USA) and completed his PhD at the University of Tokyo in Applied Artificial Intelligence.

The desire to 'popularize AI' for Vietnamese people - 1

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong shares about AI with young people.

Having experienced life, studying and working in many countries, Nguyen Xuan Phong decided to stop in Japan because he loves the people and culture here. After completing his internship at Hitachi Group (Japan), Phong was retained to work and was ranked in the top 50 scientists of Hitachi Group at the age of 24. At the Research and Development Center, considered the brain of Hitachi Group, Phong participated in a project to analyze collected data, creating technology to solve problems related to transportation and infrastructure, aiming at developing countries, including Vietnam. In addition, he also researches and creates new artificial intelligence algorithms for the group's various industries and applies those optimal strategies to areas such as smart transportation, water treatment plant automation, smart supermarkets, autonomous robots, ATM management automation, etc. With 7 patents, he was invited by Tokyo Techies to be the Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Department. Phong always makes many people admire his talent. After 8 years working at the world's leading corporation Hitachi, Nguyen Xuan Phong believes that it is time to choose a new direction for his career. The young scientist wants to contribute to Vietnam and wants his research to have a deeper impact on business, creating truly useful products for the market. Therefore, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong decided to return home. There were many options, but the young scientist found FPT Software to be the most suitable environment, always supporting new ideas and products, suitable for nurturing talents and potential projects, so he joined FPT Corporation as Director of Artificial Intelligence at FPT Software, and a visiting researcher at Mila Institute. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong not only focuses on researching artificial intelligence with professors and leading experts in the world at Mila, but also manages the work for FPT Software, develops the research department of artificial intelligence products, and serves FPT customers worldwide. Taking on two important roles, Dr. Phong always maintains the style of "going wherever, leading there".

The desire to "popularize AI"

As a talented researcher, Dr. Phong always wants to impart knowledge to the younger generation. Therefore, despite his busy work schedule, he still arranges time to attend seminars and share experiences with young people in schools across the country.

According to him, AI is very suitable for young people who have a passion for computers or want to learn about human evolution and development.

AI is the tool that helps Vietnam develop competitively with the world, creating a difference in the future.

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong

When mentioning the phrase "Artificial Intelligence - AI", we often think of a complex field, only for engineers and scientists, but Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong has a different point of view: " High school students can completely approach basic knowledge about AI in a simple and easy way ". With that mindset, Dr. Phong and a few friends opened a small school in Tokyo (Japan), teaching artificial intelligence and data sense to all ages. " The school has up to 60% of high school students. The youngest is only 12 years old, in grade 7 ", he said. " When students know something, they will love it. Therefore, I want to give them understanding and confidence when approaching artificial intelligence. In the US, when exposed to artificial intelligence at university level, if students already know in advance, they will learn very quickly, teachers will also be more interested and they will become good people in the eyes of the school and society ", Dr. Phong shared. Not only popularizing artificial intelligence in Japan, Dr. Phong is willing to participate in seminars and projects to bring AI technology to young people in Vietnam, because that is his dream. " During a talk with students of Le Hong Phong School (HCMC) about artificial intelligence, I shared the story of a female high school student who accompanied me while speaking at the Rank A scientific conference on artificial intelligence. That proves that students can do things that seem difficult, if they think positively, have good teachers, and are diligent. I hope to be invited to attend many similar talks in the future and in many schools across Vietnam, " said Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong. Dr. Phong also gave simple examples so that students can imagine and visualize artificial intelligence very clearly. " All children in Vietnam know the robot cat Doraemon, so everyone finds it very interesting. What Doraemon could do in the past, most of us can do today. We must create a passion for young people to make them love this subject, " Dr. Phong shared. He plans to write a popular science book about artificial intelligence to increase people's attention to this field and make vlogs to help people have more channels of information to access. " If we provide knowledge in a language close to life, everyone will definitely accept it ." No matter where it appears, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong's shares are a source of inspiration for young people interested in the field of artificial intelligence and AI.

The desire to 'popularize AI' for Vietnamese people - 3

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong takes a photo with his son.

Born, raised, with Vietnamese blood, as an artificial intelligence researcher, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Phong has been and is ready to do his best, bringing AI technology to more and more people in the country. His time working at the Mila Institute helps him update a lot of new knowledge, connect with research groups in Vietnam, thereby sharing and communicating the world's latest knowledge about AI, helping Vietnam catch up with the world's development level in this field.