Steve Gu

Steve Gu
EducationDuke University
OccupationCEO
Known forAiFi
TitleCo-founder and CEO of AiFi

Steve Gu is an entrepreneur, computer vision scientist, author and the Co-founder and former CEO of AiFi, an AI technology company providing autonomous store technology for retailers and brands, recognized as an Amazon Go rival by Fortune and CNBC. Gu has his PhD from Duke University in computer science, advised by Carlo Tomasi.

Career

Gu co-launched AiFi in 2016 with co-founder Ying Zheng. The name "AiFi" was chosen based on Gu's stated goal to make artificial intelligence or AI as available as WiFi. Gu and Zheng used AI in combination with off-the-shelf cameras. Gu said to create a platform that both retrofitted and newly-built stores could use to turn automated and provide checkout-free experience for customers. Gu's company launched autonomous stores in the US, UK, France, Dubai, Poland and China with brands including Carrefour, Majid al Futtaim, Morrisons, Verizon and Zabka.

Before founding AiFi, Gu worked on the Google Glass at Google X in Advanced R&D, Rapid Technology Evaluation, as well as a research scientist at Apple on Force Touch and haptic technology.

Gu is also an author of the book Black Technology published in 2017, in which Gu and other authors from Silicon Valley showcased 21 new technologies from deep learning and AI to human augmentation.


Awards

In 2020, Technology Innovators named Gu one of the Top 50 Artificial Intelligence CEOs. In 2018, Gu and AiFi won Nvidia Corporation’s Inception AI award for the best enterprise startup and shared a $1 million prize with two other winners.

References

  1. ↑ Jacob Douglas and Christopher Butler (November 12, 2019). "Amazon Go, the cashierless retail store of the future, has some new competition". CNBC. CNBC, LLC. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Vanian, Jonathan (December 20, 2019). "Amazon Go's Cashierless Stores Have a New Rival". Fortune. Fortune Media IP Limited. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  3. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (January 13, 2019). "AiFi markets NanoStore, a tiny white-label cashierless store". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Perez, Sarah (February 27, 2018). "AiFi emerges from stealth with its own take on cashier-free retail, similar to Amazon Go". TechCrunch. Verizon Media. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Grad Student Awards Presented for 2009–2010". Duke University Department of Computer Science 2020. September 13, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  6. ↑ Staff, CNBC. "CNBC UPSTART 100 – AiFi". CNBC. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  7. ↑ Wiltz, Christopher (October 24, 2019). "AiFi Replaces Cashiers and Checkouts with AI". DesignNews. Informa PLC. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  8. ↑ Springer, Jon (August 17, 2020). "Q&A With AiFi CEO Steve Gu". Winsight. Winsight Grocery Business. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  9. ↑ Nagraj, Aarti (September 6, 2021). "Carrefour opens new AI-powered checkout-free store in Dubai's Mall of the Emirates". Gulf Business. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Morrisons Project Sarah taps AiFi tech for checkout free stores pilot". Retail Technology Innovation Hub. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  11. ↑ "AiFi powers autonomous shopping at US music festivals". Retail Technology Innovation Hub. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  12. ↑ AiFi. "AiFi and Żabka Launch First Autonomous Convenience Store in Poland". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Companies founded by ex-Googlers". Startup Analysis. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Keep In Touch: Alumni News – Fall 2012". Duke Computer Science. Duke University Department of Computer Science. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  15. ↑ US Active 10545604, Alex Bijamov; Wayne C. Westerman & Zhiqiang Gu, "Apportionment of forces for multi-touch input devices of electronic devices", published January 28, 2020, issued January 28, 2020, assigned to Apple Inc
  16. ↑ US Active 20160195929, Melisa Orta Martinez; Wayne C. Westerman & Zhiqiang Gu et al., "Sculpted Waveforms with No or Reduced Unforced Response", published May 16, 2017, issued May 16, 2017, assigned to Apple Inc
  17. ↑ 顾志强 (March 2017). 黑科技. 中国友谊出版公司. ISBN 9787505737525. Retrieved August 3, 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  18. ↑ 白, 鑫 (June 13, 2016). "揭秘十大黑科技："黑科技"斯坦福首发文字版". 网易科技报道. NetEase Inc. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Top 50 Artificial Intelligence CEOs of 2020". Technology Innovators. TIM Group LLC. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  20. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (March 27, 2018). "Nvidia's Inception AI contest awards $1 million to 3 top startups". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  21. ↑ Caulfield, Brian (March 27, 2018). "Winners of AI Startup Challenge Announced at GTC 2018". NVIDIA Blog. NVIDIA. Retrieved August 27, 2020.