AI Researcher Lua Foli Emerges as Key Figure in China’s DeepSec AI Company, Challenging Global Tech Giants

29-year-old AI researcher Lua Foli has made an impressive mark in the technology world as a key figure in China’s rapidly growing AI company, DeepSec, which has emerged as a formidable competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Known as the “Genius AI Girl” in Chinese media, Lua Foli gained widespread recognition for her significant contributions to natural language processing (NLP).

A graduate of Peking University, Lua Foli’s academic career reached new heights when she published 8 papers in a single year at the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL), the world’s leading conference in NLP. Her work attracted the attention of major tech companies like Alibaba and Xiaomi.

Lua’s early career included a position at Alibaba’s Demo Academy, where she played a pivotal role in the development of the multilingual pre-training model, Wico, and contributed to promoting the open-source “ElistMind” project.

DeepSec, founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, is an AI company based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Specializing in the development of open-source large language models (LLMs), DeepSec has rapidly gained attention for its ability to compete with global giants like ChatGPT. Despite facing challenges such as US sanctions limiting access to Nvidia chips, DeepSec’s models, including the acclaimed DeepSec V2, perform on par with more resource-intensive competitors.

In January 2025, DeepSec’s AI chatbot app surpassed ChatGPT in downloads on the US iOS App Store, marking a significant milestone that stunned the industry.

Lua Foli’s expertise has been instrumental in DeepSec’s rise, particularly in the development of cutting-edge AI technologies. By joining DeepSec, Lua has played a crucial role in strengthening the company’s competitive edge and positioning it as a serious contender in the global AI race.