Who Is the Founder of DeepSeek?深度求索的創(chuàng)始人是誰？

The Chinese company DeepSeek seemed to have come out of nowhere early this year when it upturned markets. Here’s what to know about Liang Wenfeng， the engineer who started it.

中國公司深度求索（DeepSeek）今年初宛如一顆新星，橫空出世，撼動全球科技市場。以下是關(guān)于其創(chuàng)始人梁文鋒的介紹。

In technology， many entrepreneurs get only one defining act. Liang Wenfeng， the founder of DeepSeek， is already on his second.

在科技領(lǐng)域，許多創(chuàng)業(yè)者往往只有一個決定性的壯舉。而DeepSeek的創(chuàng)始人梁文鋒已經(jīng)開啟了他的第二次征程。

The engineer， described by colleagues as introspective， first made his mark in China’s investment world in the late 2010s， cofounding a hedge fund that used artificial-intelligence models to deliver strong returns and attracted billions of dollars in capital.

這位被同事描述為“內(nèi)向”的工程師最初于2010年代末在中國投資界嶄露頭角。他跟人聯(lián)合創(chuàng)立了一家對沖基金，借助人工智能模型斬獲豐厚收益，吸引了數(shù)十億美元的資金流入。

Buoyed by profits and wary of Beijing’s tightening grip on speculative trading， Mr. Liang pivoted in 2023. He poured money into artificial intelligence， betting on A.I. chips and assembling a team to build China’s answer to the Silicon Valley front-runner OpenAI.

得益于豐厚盈利，同時也考慮到國家對投機(jī)性交易監(jiān)管趨嚴(yán)，梁先生于2023年做出戰(zhàn)略轉(zhuǎn)向。他大力投資人工智能領(lǐng)域，押注人工智能芯片，組建團(tuán)隊(duì)打造能與硅谷領(lǐng)軍企業(yè)OpenAI比肩的中國人工智能企業(yè)。

Now， just two years later， DeepSeek has upended the global tech landscape. Here is what you need to know about Liang Wenfeng.

如今，僅僅過去兩年，DeepSeek便已改寫全球科技版圖。下面帶你深入了解梁文鋒其人。

He’s a deeply technical engineer. That puts him in a line of other successful Chinese tech executives.

他是深諳技術(shù)的工程師，憑此躋身中國成功的科技高管之列。

When Chinese technologists debated why the country’s biggest investors and tech firms failed to anticipate the rise of generative A.I.， many pointed to a single culprit： China’s companies were obsessed with quick returns in a fiercely competitive market.

中國技術(shù)專家曾探討，為何國內(nèi)大型投資機(jī)構(gòu)和科技企業(yè)未能預(yù)見到生成式人工智能的興起。很多人認(rèn)為，主要原因在于，激烈的市場競爭中，中國企業(yè)過度追逐短期回報。

Armed with those lessons—and backed by his own trading windfall—Mr. Liang has made it clear his ambitions lie far beyond commercial applications.

汲取這些經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)，又憑借自身在交易中獲得的巨額收益，梁先生明確表示，他的志向遠(yuǎn)不止于商業(yè)應(yīng)用。

His focus， he has said， is on what he sees as China’s only real chance to catch up with the United States. That means taking bold， idealistic swings at fundamental A.I. challenges. His primary ambition is to create artificial general intelligence or A.G.I.—the elusive goal of building machines that can think and learn like humans.

他曾言，他所關(guān)注的是他眼中中國追趕美國真正具有的唯一機(jī)會。這意味著，他要大膽且理想化地直面人工智能基礎(chǔ)研究方面的挑戰(zhàn)。他的首要目標(biāo)是創(chuàng)造通用人工智能（AGI）——打造出能像人類一樣思考和學(xué)習(xí)的機(jī)器，這一目標(biāo)很難達(dá)到。

When DeepSeek undercut1 its Chinese competition last year by offering its model at bargain prices， forcing larger rivals into their own price cuts， Mr. Liang dismissed the significance.

去年，DeepSeek以低價推出其模型，迫使規(guī)模更大的競爭對手紛紛降價。但梁先生認(rèn)為這一舉措并無重大意義。

“To be honest， we didn’t really care—it was just something we did along the way，” he said in a widely shared interview with 36Kr， a Chinese tech outlet. “Providing cloud services is not our main goal. Our aim is still to achieve A.G.I.”

他在接受中國科技媒體36氪的采訪時表示：“說實(shí)話我們不太care這件事2，只是順便做了這件事。提供云服務(wù)不是我們的主要目標(biāo)，我們的目標(biāo)還是去實(shí)現(xiàn)AGI?！边@次采訪之后被廣為傳播。

In his convictions that superhuman artificial intelligence is just around the corner3， Mr. Liang sounds a lot like OpenAI’s chief executive， Sam Altman. But the similarities end there. Mr. Liang， a low-profile executive with a deep technical background in A.I. engineering， more fits the mold of Pony Ma， a co-founder of China’s Tencent， than Silicon Valley’s charismatic visionaries.

梁先生堅(jiān)信，超人類人工智能即將誕生，這一點(diǎn)與OpenAI首席執(zhí)行官薩姆·奧爾特曼不謀而合。但除此之外，兩人再無更多相似之處。梁先生行事低調(diào)，在人工智能工程領(lǐng)域技術(shù)背景深厚，比起硅谷那些魅力非凡的夢想家，他更像中國騰訊公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人馬化騰。

He started as a hedge fund trader. And then he turned to pure A.I. research.

他從對沖基金交易員起步，而后投身純粹的人工智能研究。

In many ways， Mr. Liang’s career traces the major shifts in China’s technology landscape.

在諸多方面，梁先生的職業(yè)生涯映射出中國科技領(lǐng)域的重大變化。

His 2010 thesis at Zhejiang University tackled what would soon become one of the hottest topics in Chinese A.I.： improving intelligent tracking algorithms for surveillance cameras.

2010年，他在浙江大學(xué)撰寫的碩士論文探討的主題不久后便成為中國人工智能領(lǐng)域的熱門話題：改進(jìn)監(jiān)控?cái)z像頭的智能追蹤算法。

Later， the hedge fund he co-founded was buffeted by regulatory pressures， eventually forcing the closure of one of its main investment products， according to Peter Alexander， managing director of Z-Ben Advisors， a market consultancy， who researches Chinese hedge funds.

據(jù)研究中國對沖基金的市場咨詢公司哲奔咨詢董事總經(jīng)理彼得·亞歷山大介紹，后來，梁先生參與創(chuàng)立的對沖基金受到監(jiān)管壓力沖擊，最終其一款主要投資產(chǎn)品被迫關(guān)停。

“Between 2019 and 2023， they wanted to have this side project so that their Ph.D.s felt like they had something to do and so DeepSeek originated from that，” Mr. Alexander said.

亞歷山大透露：“2019年至2023年期間，他們開展了這個副業(yè)項(xiàng)目，為團(tuán)隊(duì)里的博士們提供研究方向，DeepSeek便由此發(fā)端?！?/p>

“But it really went into overdrive4 when their primary investment product had to shut down in February of 2024，” he said.

他還補(bǔ)充道：“但在2024年2月主要投資產(chǎn)品關(guān)停后，這個項(xiàng)目才真正進(jìn)入高速發(fā)展階段。”

In a way， it was China’s crackdown on the private sector that nudged DeepSeek toward long-term A.I. research.

從某種意義上講，中國對私營部門的監(jiān)管舉措推動了DeepSeek轉(zhuǎn)向長期人工智能研究。

He’s willing to try things other entrepreneurs will not. He even hired lit majors.

他敢于嘗試其他創(chuàng)業(yè)者不敢涉足的領(lǐng)域，甚至還招聘了文學(xué)專業(yè)人才。

If you polled China’s A.I. experts on who would deliver the country’s first major generative A.I. breakthrough， few would have picked Mr. Liang.

若在中國人工智能專家中做個調(diào)查，詢問誰最有可能率先在中國生成式人工智能領(lǐng)域取得重大突破，幾乎沒人會將票投給梁先生。

DeepSeek was a private company with no apparent state backing， no big-name alliances and none of the institutional heft5 of players like Baidu， the search giant.

DeepSeek是一家私營企業(yè)，既無明顯的政府背景，也沒有知名合作伙伴，更不像搜索巨頭百度那樣擁有強(qiáng)大的機(jī)構(gòu)影響力。

Yet， there’s precedent for that. Some of China’s most disruptive tech companies—Huawei， Alibaba， ByteDance—started outside the spotlight， only to redefine their industries.

然而，這樣的成功并非沒有先例。中國一些極具顛覆性的科技企業(yè)，如華為、阿里巴巴、字節(jié)跳動，都是在無人關(guān)注的情況下起步，最終卻改寫了所在行業(yè)的格局。

Mr. Liang’s approach has been as unconventional as his company’s rise. He has emphasized intellectual exploration over sheer grind6. His hiring philosophy is equally unorthodox—DeepSeek’s engineering teams have been joined by literature buffs to help refine the company’s A.I. models.

梁先生的經(jīng)營方式與公司的崛起路徑一樣別具一格。他注重知識探索，而非盲目埋頭苦干。他的招聘理念同樣獨(dú)樹一幟——DeepSeek的工程團(tuán)隊(duì)中吸納了文學(xué)愛好者，助力優(yōu)化公司的人工智能模型。

“Everyone has their own unique journey and brings their own ideas with them， so there’s no need to push them，” he said in the 36Kr interview.

他在接受36氪采訪時談道：“每個人有自己獨(dú)特的成長經(jīng)歷，都是自帶想法的，不需要push他7?！?/p>

In a tech culture defined by grueling hours and hierarchy， that outlook borders on Bohemian. Yet， Mr. Liang insists change is necessary if China wants to lead in frontier A.I. innovation.

在以高強(qiáng)度工作時長和嚴(yán)格等級制度為特點(diǎn)的技術(shù)文化中，這種理念顯得特立獨(dú)行。但梁先生堅(jiān)信，若中國想在前沿人工智能創(chuàng)新領(lǐng)域占據(jù)領(lǐng)先地位，改變必不可少。

“When ChatGPT came out， the entire industry in China lacked the confidence to pursue frontier innovation，” he said.

他指出：“ChatGPT出來時，整個國內(nèi)對做前沿創(chuàng)新都缺乏信心?！?/p>

“Innovation starts with confidence—and we often see that more from young people.”

“但創(chuàng)新首先需要信心——這種信心通常在年輕人身上更明顯?！?/p>

1 undercut削價競爭；以低于（競爭對手）的價格做生意。

2 采訪實(shí)錄如此。care在乎，介意。" 3 （just） around the corner即將來臨。

4 overdrive超速運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。" 5 heft影響力，重要性。

6 grind令人厭倦的苦事。" 7采訪實(shí)錄如此。push逼迫；促使。