Feng Zhou helping NetEase find new life beyond games

CS alumnus Feng Zhou (Ph.D. ’07, advisor: Eric Brewer) is the subject of a Bloomberg article titled “The U.S.-trained coder is helping NetEase find new life beyond games.”  To help the company remain competitive, NetEase Youdao CEO Zhou is creating an all-in-one learning platform to tap the lucrative overlap between education and technology.  Addressing the pressure many Chinese families feel to prepare children for college entrance exams starting as early as Kindergarten, Zhou says courses can be taught through high-speed live-streaming, enabling smooth communication between teacher and student. Artificial intelligence-powered tutors can grade homework and use data to evaluate student test results.  “That’s what we have always been good at,” said Zhou. “Almost every industry in China has been transformed by the internet, but that’s not yet the case for education.”