Prof. Renyu ZHANG

Award Citation

Professor Zhang Renyu is an Associate Professor at the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also an economist and Tech Lead at Kuaishou, one of the world’s largest online video-sharing platforms. Professor Zhang applies AI and data science to empower business decision making under the emerging trends in technology, marketplaces, and society. He develops AI and data science methodologies (large language models, machine learning, causal inference, and data-driven optimization) to evaluate and optimize the operations strategies in the contexts of online platforms and marketplaces, sharing economy, and social networks, especially their recommendation, advertising, pricing, and matching policies. His research works have appeared in top business journals and have been funded by NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Program, Tencent and Didi. Professor Zhang serves as an Associate Editor for Operations Research and a Senior Editor for Production and Operations Management.

Professor Zhang is awarded the RGC Research Fellow and his project is to address the gap between state-of-the-art AI technologies and the adoption of such technologies in business research. By using large language models (LLMs) to build AI agents to simulate human decision making in business, the study aims to predict human responses to certain policy interventions accurately. By integrating AI into causal inference frameworks, personalized treatment effect estimations can lead to more precise policy evaluations and efficient optimizations for the policy of interest. Furthermore, the research delves into the economic and societal impacts of generative AI (GenAI) in business contexts, focusing on areas like algorithmic fairness and data privacy. Collaborating with industry partners, this project seeks to enhance our understanding of AI-driven business decision-making, aligning with Hong Kong’s strategic focus on AI and data science development.