A human-like virtual student powered by artificial intelligence has been enrolled in one of China¡¯s top universities ¨C to study computer science.

The ¡°student¡±, named ¡°Hua Zhibing¡±, has a synthesised female appearance and voice, and joined Tsinghua University¡¯s department of computer science and technology last week.

With the ability to ¡°recognise hidden patterns from data¡±, Hua is expected internalise a large amount of learning material and understand the logic behind it over the next two years, before taking computer science and data courses.

Like other students, Hua has been assigned a Tsinghua student ID, university email, and a course supervisor.

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¡°I became interested in my birth,¡± she said in a self-introduction video. ¡°With Professor Tang¡¯s explanation, I got to know the development of artificial intelligence.¡±

Researchers and staff from Tsinghua¡¯s computing and psychology departments, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and admissions office are involved in the project.

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¡°We hope to integrate our AI technologies for a flagship application system that is driven by data and knowledge, which is a great example of a combination of theoretical and applied research in computer science,¡± said Yin Xia, dean of the computer science department.

¡°We look forward to the great fun [Hua] can add to everyone¡¯s campus life and to see how she can promote the interaction and cooperation between human and AI.¡±

Tsinghua shared some paintings and poems created by Hua at a briefing.

Tang Jie, professor of data mining at Tsinghua and Hua¡¯s supervisor, said that she was based on the technology of large-scale pre-trained models.

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The aim was that Hua would ¡°enrich and strengthen the model, rather than retrain the model, when facing various studying stages and scenarios¡±.

Professor Tang¡¯s team has recently published the??and source code of the large-scale pre-trained model, named Wu Dao.

¡°We wish Hua [to] think and constantly study like human beings eventually,¡± said a spokesperson for the project. ¡°To understand people¡¯s ideas, to generate interaction that meets users¡¯ needs, to capture their demands, is the [challenge] of the next generation of artificial intelligence.¡±

karen.liu@timeshighereducation.com