MiHoYo’s Cai Haoyu Launches New AI Venture, Recruiting Llama 3 Scientist to Lead Large Model Efforts
MiHoYo Founder Cai Haoyu’s New AI Startup Exposed After “Controversial” Online Post
When a major Asian game publisher pivots toward artificial intelligence, the ripple effects extend far beyond Shanghai or Singapore. The global supply chain for creative talent is shifting, and policy frameworks in Washington and Brussels are watching closely as Chinese tech firms integrate foundational models into entertainment. This move signals a broader realignment of where high-value AI development occurs.
“AIGC has already revolutionized game development… most practitioners should consider changing careers.”
The new entity, named Anuttacon, aims to create unprecedented experiences for gamers using AI, pushing the boundaries of interactive entertainment.
What links this company to MiHoYo and Cai Haoyu? I followed the digital breadcrumbs that connected these dots.
Key Clue 1: Registration Location
Netizens with keen eyes noticed that Anuttacon is registered at the same address as MiHoYo’s Singapore headquarters, Hoyoverse. This shared infrastructure suggests tight operational integration rather than a distant spin-off.
Key Clue 2: Key Personnel
Ray Wang, who serves as President of User Ecology at Anuttacon, is the former head of gaming and live streaming at Bilibili, Wang Yuyang. After leaving Bilibili, he attended public events under his Hoyoverse affiliation and previously used a MiHoYo corporate email (now replaced with a personal one). The movement of senior executives between these firms highlights the fluidity of talent in Asia’s tech sector.
Key Clue 3: Office Location
Anuttacon’s job postings indicate primary recruitment in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it maintains an office in Santa Clara. Cai Haoyu’s LinkedIn profile also lists his most recent location as Santa Clara. This dual presence in Silicon Valley suggests a strategy to tap into global AI expertise while maintaining Asian operational roots.
The recent attention Anuttacon has garnered in the industry was triggered by two specific events:
Trigger 1: Microsoft graphics expert Tong Xin joined Anuttacon as Partner Research Manager. This recruitment of Western AI talent indicates a competitive bid for top-tier engineering skills.
Trigger 2: The usually low-profile MiHoYo founder Cai Haoyu made a rare public statement, using AI to advise game industry professionals against staying in their current roles. His comments reflect the anxiety surrounding automation in creative industries globally.
In Cai’s view, the AI era will lead to polarization in the gaming industry: only top-tier works from elite teams or games produced by individuals themselves will survive. Professionals in the middle tier—whether experts or amateurs, including himself—are advised to consider changing careers…
Cai Haoyu Dives into AI; Large Model Head in Place
Before Cai Haoyu stepped down as chairman in September 2023, MiHoYo had already shown interest in large language models. In fact, even before the release of ChatGPT, it invested in Minimax, one of the “Six Little Dragons” of the current large model sector. There have also been frequent reports that after stepping down from his domestic roles at MiHoYo, Cai has focused more on AI research.
Although Anuttacon has not yet announced any specific products or projects, emphasizing only its belief in “the potential of AI to create new entertainment experiences,” the known team members offer some clues. Currently, Anuttacon’s size is listed as 11-50 employees, with five verifiable members:
Technical Heavyweight: Computer Graphics Expert Tong Xin
Known in the industry as “Tong Lao,” he has recently left Microsoft after a 25-year tenure at Microsoft Research Asia. This marks his first job change since graduating with his PhD and joining Microsoft. At Microsoft, Tong Xin served as a Research Partner and Head of the Networking Group. He has published over 150 papers in top computer graphics and computer vision conferences and journals, with citations exceeding 15,000 and an h-index of 66.
He continues to serve as Partner Research Manager at Anuttacon.
I think tong’s departure from Microsoft Research Asia signals a talent drain in China’s academic-industrial pipeline. His move highlights the growing competition for senior graphics experts globally.
Suspected Heads of Large Model Research Appear
Wu Xiaojian, an alumnus of Wuhan University, holds a CS PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He previously served as a Senior Research Scientist at Microsoft and Meta. He participated in research on the open-source Llama 3.1 series, with papers covering multilingual capabilities, post-training, RLHF, RAG, Agents, and more, making him a versatile researcher in large models.
He serves as Founding Engineer and Head of the Large Model Research Team at Anuttacon.
Yunzhe Tao, whose LinkedIn profile shows he joined a “hidden startup” just a month ago, appears in search results for Anuttacon alongside Tong Xin and Wu Xiaojian. Tao completed his undergraduate studies in Applied Mathematics at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and earned his PhD in Applied Mathematics and Data Science from Columbia University. After graduation, he worked as an Applied Scientist in Amazon’s reinforcement learning team. He later served as a Senior Research Scientist and Technical Lead at ByteDance’s Seattle R&D Center, responsible for post-training work on code generation large models. Regarding his new role, Tao only revealed that he is working on “large model applications.”
From an APAC angle, tao’s background in reinforcement learning is critical for aligning models with user intent. His move from ByteDance suggests a shift toward application-layer innovation over base model training.
Veteran of Internet Infrastructure: MiHoYo’s Ye Lileng
Ye Lileng has not publicly disclosed his specific role at Anuttacon. However, according to his Maimai profile, he has nearly 10 years of experience at UCloud, a cloud computing listed company, where he served as Head of the Private Cloud and Container Product Line. A graduate of Shantou University, Ye joined UCloud in 2012 and MiHoYo in 2021, focusing on distributed computing and infrastructure.
Globally, infrastructure veterans are often overlooked in AI hype cycles. Their expertise is essential for scaling inference costs efficiently in consumer-facing applications.
Veteran in Esports and Live Streaming: Former Bilibili Live Head Wang Yuyang
Beyond the technical team, Wang Yuyang is the only other known executive at Anuttacon. Before joining Bilibili, Wang worked at Huya Live and Penguin Esports. He later founded the esports MCN agency Da’e Culture. After Xiaoxiang Interactive merged with Da’e Culture, he joined Bilibili. At Bilibili, he served as General Manager of the
The ripple effects of talent migration within Asia-Pacific’s gaming giants often signal broader shifts in regional AI infrastructure. When a key executive departs a major studio to lead an independent venture, it rarely happens in isolation; it usually reflects a recalibration of how local firms are approaching large language models versus proprietary game engines.
I think this move suggests Asian studios are prioritizing general-purpose AI over niche verticals. From an APAC angle, singapore’s regulatory environment is becoming a magnet for cross-border tech talent. Globally, the recruitment of Llama 3 specialists indicates a shift toward open-weight model integration.
Wang, who previously served as Vice President and the youngest post-90s executive at Bilibili, focused on live streaming operations within the Gaming Content Department & Live Streaming Center before leaving the company at the end of 2023. His departure coincided closely with the registration of Anuttacon in Singapore.
By May of this year, I followed his activity on Maimai, where he posted job openings for “Senior AI Product Operations” and “Senior AI Product Manager,” specifying work locations that included Singapore. At Anuttacon, Wang currently holds the title of President of User Ecology.
MiHoYo’s Strategy for the Remaining 99% of Content
Cai Haoyu frames Anuttacon as the “top 0.0001%,” a tier reserved for elite teams of geniuses with deep understanding and exceptional design skills to create unprecedented works.
The most insightful geniuses, possessing deep understanding and exceptional design skills, form elite teams to create unprecedented things.
Industry observers in the comments section contextualized this hierarchy. Song Yachen, founder of AI 3D content generation company VAS, likened Cai’s elite tier to Hollywood blockbusters, while describing the remaining 99% as akin to TikTok—a platform where anyone can now create videos.
This suggests that serving the broader 99%—building a “platform where anyone can make games”—may remain MiHoYo’s responsibility. I followed recent signals indicating MiHoYo has already begun preparing for this role. Earlier this year, the company posted job openings for Genshin Impact User Generated Content (UGC), explicitly stating in the announcement that “content created by participants will be a module of equal importance to the main body of Genshin Impact.”
I think this split mirrors how Western tech giants balance proprietary AI models with open-source community contributions. From an APAC angle, miHoYo’s UGC focus suggests a shift from pure content creation to platform infrastructure. Globally, the Hollywood versus TikTok analogy highlights the tension between high-end production and democratized tools.
References
I reviewed the following sources to contextualize MiHoYo’s strategic pivot and its implications for the broader APAC gaming sector.
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