Ethan Tu left a flourishing career at Microsoft, where he spent over a decade working on research and development in the field of AI, to return to his roots. In 2005, the computer science graduate of NTU, like many others, looked for high-tech software jobs outside of Taiwan, which at the time was mostly known for its hardware. Still, Tu harboured a dream for Taiwanese software engineers to be able to use their skills in Taiwan.

In 2017, he felt that it was the right time to make it happen, and formed Taiwan AI Labs with the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The lab collaborates with academia, industry and the government to develop AI solutions in three main areas—healthcare, smart cities and human interaction. In response to the pandemic, the company used AI to detect Covid-19 in chest X-rays, perform contact tracing and also combat fake news by identifying the original source. These efforts led to Taiwan being hailed as a model of epidemic prevention.

AI Labs also initiated a community project aiming to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, using Bluetooth frequencies on mobile devices to estimate the number of an individual’s close physical interactions. Its decentralized approach also protects user privacy.