One of China’s richest tech founders has been seen in the mainland after a yearlong stay overseas. Some officials say that his presence may reflect a positive shift in China’s private tech industry following the COVID-19 lockdown.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, returned to China last week, according to Reuters. He was seen visiting a Chinese school on Monday, according to the Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post. Ma discussed artificial intelligence with several students and staff and said he hoped to return to teaching at some point, according to the school’s WeChat account.
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“We must use AI to solve problems, not to be controlled by AI,” Ma told the staff.
Chinese officials believe that Ma’s return to the mainland could help inspire confidence in local businesses after multiple years of the Chinese government implementing a “Zero-COVID” policy that damaged the country’s economy. The country has slowly eased the policy in 2023 and is no longer as restrictive as before.
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China also passed several antitrust laws that cracked down on Ma’s market power and fined his company $2.75 billion for anti-monopoly violations.
Ma left China back in October 2021 after the country passed extensive regulations that hindered his company and the tech sector as a whole. The tech CEO and former English teacher has been on the move since, staying in several countries, including Japan.
