Professor Ho Tu Bao: Patriotism is the driving force for the journey from the battlefield to AI

(Dan Tri) - From a young soldier holding a gun to protect the Fatherland, Professor Ho Tu Bao has become a prestigious scientist, bringing knowledge from the world to contribute to the development of the country.

The journey of Professor Ho Tu Bao - one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI) - is a living testament to the spirit of persistent dedication to science .

Dan Tri newspaper reporters had a conversation with the Professor to listen to him share about his special journey, his silent but meaningful contributions, and his concerns and expectations for the future of Vietnamese science and technology .

If we talk about the turning point, I think it is not a coincidence but a process. This process of most Northern youth originates from high school education , when teachers always teach students patriotism, especially when the country is still divided into North and South.

Through lectures and stories at school, that patriotism gradually permeates and each person finds themselves attached to the South, sees their part in the war against America to save the country.

Before joining the army, I studied for 5 years at the Faculty of Mathematics, Hanoi National University of Education, with 3 years of high school in the specialized Mathematics class, Course 1, and two years of university.

After finishing my second year, I joined the army on September 6, 1971, in a huge recruitment campaign, along with thousands of students and teachers from universities. This was the period when the Paris conference had been going on for a long time but had not yet reached a conclusion. Later, I learned that in 1972, it was determined that there would be strategic battles and major campaigns to create position and power at the negotiating table.

After 3 months of training, my 325th Division was converted into a combat division and I joined the division's reconnaissance company. In early 1972, the 325th Division moved to Ha Tinh while the 304th and 308th combat divisions gradually moved south. At the end of June 1972, my unit entered the battle in Quang Tri.

My reconnaissance company was divided into several groups. My reconnaissance squad joined in the defense of Quang Tri town. We set up two observation posts on the west bank of the Thach Han River, about a kilometer apart; one looked straight at the ancient citadel, the other at the head of the Quang Tri iron bridge, with the main task of monitoring the number of artillery shots, bombs dropped, and enemy attacks within our area day and night, and crossing the river to investigate and get information when ordered.

In today's parlance, our job was to collect data for our superiors to make decisions.

We operated like that for the last two months of the 81 days and nights of defending the town. As a squad leader, I was often assigned difficult missions, such as swimming across the river in early July to determine whether the other end of the bridge was friendly or enemy, or swimming to receive news from the Citadel Command on the night of September 13 when the three-sided siege was still very narrow. My squad continued to stick to the area around the town until the signing of the Paris Agreement on January 27, 1973.

One memory is that after many times of reconnaissance across the river to investigate the other side of the An Mo area, on the night of December 25, 1972, I received orders to lead a special forces company of the division to attack. Late at night, I led the company commander and three special forces platoon leaders to swim across the river, crawled to retake the places we had investigated, then swam back together and the soldiers led the troops across the river to fight a victorious battle.

After the Paris Agreement, the division's reconnaissance company was stationed in Tra Lien Tay village, near Thach Han and near the town. I was assigned as a platoon leader, and together with the company, I spent a long time training in reconnaissance operations when both sides were still in a state of tension and tension.

At the end of 1973, the division's reconnaissance team was assigned the task of going behind enemy lines, that is, secretly going to the other side to investigate important positions. The A74 squad was established with a number of soldiers selected from the platoons and I was assigned to be in charge.

In early 1974, we were on a mission, the vehicle went up to the West, then down to Thua Thien and back to Quang Tri. Unfortunately, on the way down from the top of the mountain, the road suddenly collapsed and the vehicle rolled down the cliff. The A74 squad was injured and almost everyone died. I was injured in many places, the most serious being a broken and fractured lower jaw.

I was transferred to the North for treatment. After being discharged from the hospital, I applied to study Control Mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematics - Physics, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. From being a student in the army and then returning to being a student, these were big turning points for me to mature and then return to study. Sitting in class, I felt more deeply about life and sacrifice.

The Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Hanoi University of Science and Technology opened in the early 1970s with the majors of computer mathematics and control and semiconductor and nuclear physics. These training directions connecting basic science with technology were very early in Vietnam, from the profound vision of Minister Ta Quang Buu and the enthusiastic scientific leaders at that time.

After graduating from university in late 1978, I was accepted as a researcher at the Institute of Information Technology, under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. A few years later, I won a scholarship to study in France as a graduate student.

When I finished my summer master's program in 1984 and was preparing my research topic, my supervisor, Professor Phan Dinh Dieu, wrote me a letter suggesting that I work on artificial intelligence (AI). He said that "it is the future of computer science".

At that time, I knew nothing about AI, but decided to change my research direction even though I had to start over. The problem that Professor Edwin Diday at Dauphine University suggested I do was to find a way to create inference rules from data tables to build expert systems.

This is a fundamental problem in the field of machine learning, but it was not very popular at that time.

After nearly three years of being immersed, forgetting to eat and sleep, believing that I was doing something important and meaningful, I successfully developed the CABRO naming algorithm.

In 1987, after defending my doctoral thesis, I returned to Vietnam. At that time, Cinotec company in West Germany cooperated and supported us in exporting software. Cinotec supported and cooperated with 4 groups in Hanoi and 2 in Saigon.

We did very topical research at that time such as OCR system, map database system, ASIC design system, expert system tools (I was in charge). We worked very passionately and mainly at night because in those years the electricity was very weak, unstable, and the whole institute only had a few personal computers to share.

By 1990, we had produced software that was as good as similar products in Europe. Cinotec took the products of the groups to participate in CeBIT Hannover in Germany, one of the world's largest fairs on Information Technology held annually in March, and sold a number of copies.

However, at that time, communication from Vietnam to foreign countries was very difficult. Everything had to be sent by post. When customers reported errors, it took a month for us to receive news and a reply. In the software market, that was unacceptable. Coupled with a few other reasons, the dream of exporting software for the first groups had to stop.

During my time working in Vietnam, I contacted and exchanged documents with Professor Ohsuga at the University of Tokyo, a leading professor in Japan on AI. At that time, Japan established the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), they invited two foreigners to work under the recommendation of Professor Ohsuga, me and a professor from Europe came to JAIST from July 1993.

After 5 years of continuing research on Machine Learning, I was offered a position as a professor in charge of an AI Lab at the School of Knowledge Science of JAIST, which aims to connect economics, management and technology, especially AI. I worked at JAIST until 2018, then returned to Vietnam and was recognized as an Honorary Professor of JAIST.

In the early 1990s, the number of people from the country going to work as professors in developed countries was very small. Right from the moment I arrived in Japan, I accepted the request of the agency in Vietnam and Professor Ohsuga's wish to become a bridge connecting the two countries.

We started building JAIST's cooperative relationship with universities in Vietnam since 2000. Gradually, JAIST has had cooperation agreements with about 15 major universities in Vietnam, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, and to date JAIST has trained more than 200 PhDs in science for Vietnam.

Currently, in many places such as the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, two National Universities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi Pedagogical University, Da Nang, Hue, Thai Nguyen Universities, etc., there are teachers who studied at JAIST. I am always very happy about these results.

AI has been developed for about 70 years. In Vietnam, the number of people researching AI has long accounted for a large proportion in the Information Technology industry. But AI is also one of many fields of science, so many people do not know about it before meeting ChatGPT. In the world, in developed countries, AI is more popular than in our country.

Over the past decade, about 70 countries have developed and announced national AI strategies. Vietnam also developed and announced a national AI strategy in early 2021.

The essence of AI is to analyze data to create knowledge and understanding, and we are living in the data era with the amount of data increasing very rapidly.

Increasingly large data sources, increasingly powerful computers and increasingly developed AI algorithms have created a breakthrough in AI. In particular, the emergence of AI generated by ChatGPT with attractive capabilities and more or less usable by everyone has led to the rapid and widespread popularity of AI in the world as well as in Vietnam.

Talking about the "AI capacity" of every country, in my opinion, there are two capacities that need to be evaluated: one is the capacity to develop core AI technology and the other is the capacity to create AI products/services based on core technology.

Core AI technologies are foundational technologies such as creating algorithms, models, architectures, specialized AI hardware, such as Google's Transformer model, Diffusion model, Nvidia's GPU/TPU, software frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch.

On the other hand, customer care chatbots using large language models, medical imaging diagnostic systems using machine vision, administrative data analysis using natural language processing... are examples of creating AI products or services based on core technology.

Our capacity for original AI technology is still weak compared to developed countries, because the technology requires a strong R&D team with long-term investment, huge data sources, supercomputers, and high risk acceptance. However, in terms of creating AI products and services from original technologies, we are quite good, stemming from the industrious, intelligent, and flexible nature of Vietnamese people, especially the younger generation.

A survey by Microsoft in Vietnam shows that about 95% of business leaders in Vietnam believe in AI and AI agents to improve productivity, one of the highest rates in the world. However, the general comment is that AI applications at this time are mainly in "breadth" but "depth" is still limited.

Many news and market reports show that businesses are using AI for marketing and customer care (chatbots, content, advertising) at a high rate. These are mainly easy-to-deploy applications. However, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

I think we have deeply reviewed the current state of our science and technology. Over the years, although we have always considered science and technology a national policy, our science and technology have not developed as expected, and are still not closely linked to production.

However, Resolution 57 has aroused and opened up great excitement and expectation. I believe that this is the period when our science and technology will flourish.

Resolution 57 has aroused and opened up a great excitement and expectation. I believe that this is the period when our science and technology will flourish.

In terms of awareness, it can be said that science and technology have been placed in the right position in this development stage of the country and operated in the strategic action plan to implement Resolution No. 57 of the Central Steering Committee.

Policies and plans on changing the way science and technology is managed, investment is increased according to the roadmap, promoting the construction of an innovation ecosystem, encouraging the connection of three parties, boosting investment in human resource training, connecting with Vietnamese talents everywhere... are things that will turn our great potential for science and technology into internal strength, into a driving force leading the country's development in the new era.

Over the past few years, many universities in the fields of economics and business have advocated incorporating mathematics and digital technologies into their training programs.

I have joined my colleagues in building a bachelor's degree program in Business Analytics - that is, exploiting and using data to gain insight and make the right decisions in business activities, typically in six areas: finance, production, marketing, sales, customers and human resources - at the International University (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), Foreign Trade University, National Economics University, Banking Academy... and have had generations of students graduate, go to work and do very well.

Recently, we have had a greater desire to bring Business Analytics from universities to small and medium-sized enterprises so that they can do smart business, in other words, do business rationally and effectively in today's environment. We are developing a simple, easy-to-use approach that helps small and medium-sized enterprises gradually access technology.

This is a job that, if done, must be based on an effective combination of state - business - school/institute.

Resolution 59 on international integration in the new situation has emphasized international integration in the new situation. Cooperation with the outside is extremely important to increase our endogenous capacity.

In the past few decades, many young people have gone abroad to study and work. They are talented people and are trained in a high-tech scientific environment - something that is still lacking in the country.

What they learn is not only knowledge, but also how to work and develop in a developing environment. Their participation not only brings back personal knowledge, but also good things they learn from developed places to contribute to the development of the country. In the current conditions, online contribution is an important and effective solution.

To attract talent, the important thing is the working environment and partners in addition to appropriate treatment. The core thing in my opinion is that when talented people join the country, they must see that they are doing valuable work.

I think Vietnamese patriotism has always existed and is strong, and in each historical period it has different nuances.

The patriotism of today's young Vietnamese generation is not only expressed through national pride or historical memories, but also through the desire to contribute to the country through knowledge, creativity and international integration.

They love their country by starting businesses, learning new technologies, protecting the environment, preserving culture and at the same time affirming Vietnam's position in the world.

I think Vietnamese patriotism has always existed and is strong, and in each historical period it has different nuances. Patriotism can be passionate or quiet, but it is always present in each of us.

Thank you Professor for taking the time to chat!

Content: Nam Doan, Phuong Lien, Moc An

Photo: Hai Long

Design: Tuan Nghia

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/gs-ho-tu-bao-long-yeu-nuoc-la-dong-luc-cho-hanh-trinh-chien-truong-den-ai-20250827174822675.htm