Hello! 👋

I'm Yiqiao Zhou

AI Builder & Product Engineer

About Me

Doing the right things rather than just doing things right. Focusing on outcomes over outputs. Embracing uncertainty.

Key words

LLM Agent Builder AI native

Tech Skills

Python PyTorch TensorFlow ML/DL SQL/Spark React Django AWS Docker JS LLM framework Git CI/CD Nginx Airflow Elasticsearch vectordatabase Supabase Vercel Vibe Coding

Some Rambling

Quick thoughts about myself or AI from recent learning, listening, and building.

Content may be AI-assisted.

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GEO is a tricky technology because it's simultaneously a method for polluting and compromising models—something model providers don't want to see. But with such a massive traffic entry point, how to monetize it? A very interesting question.

AIBlog

OpenAI's Vertical Integration: Strategy or Defense?

Reflections on Sam Altman's vertical integration strategy and the uncertain future of AI—navigating the boundary between independent companies and tech giants.

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Acknowledge uncertainty, embrace uncertainty, acknowledge complex variables and intricate causal logic.

personalBlog

Evaluating B2B SaaS Moats: A Product Perspective

Reflections on observing an AI startup project, distilling a framework for evaluating B2B SaaS competitive advantages.

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Current chat interfaces are stuck in 2023 paradigms and severely limit what 2025 AI can actually deliver. We need to shift from conversational back-and-forth to command-driven agents that directly produce outcomes.

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The GPT-5 Prompting Guide is a product upgrade designed to help API users build better products.

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Working with the right people in a team with the right culture to do the right things is a heaven-sent happiness.

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At its core, AI/LLM represents a paradigm shift where natural language becomes the universal API for computational power—transforming human intent into compute resource orchestration.

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AI fundamentally boils down to decision-making systems that must own their outcomes—the real test isn't just accuracy, but accountability for consequences.

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The essence of an AI agent lies in three capabilities: multi-step decision making, tool invocation, and self-iteration—basically turning single queries into autonomous execution loops.

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Work Experience

Sourcing Analyst Intern

MiraclePlus

Oct 2025 - Present
  • Sourcing and initial screening of North American STEM startups

AI & Product Engineer Intern (User & Ecosystem Growth for Revenue Generation)

Baidu - PaddleOCR

May 2025 - Aug 2025
  • Drove user growth (30k+ stars, 708k downloads) for a high-performing OCR product by identifying a key market gap
  • Led a user-centric strategy shift and launched a new Agent MCP server to expand the user scope

AI & Product Engineer Intern (Operational Efficiency & Cost Reduction)

MicroFun

Jul 2024 - Sep 2024
  • Engineered a production-grade, automated AI translation pipeline that cut content localization time by over 70%
  • Slashed operational costs and accelerated global market entry for mobile games

AI Application Engineer Intern (Software Development)

Vizzy AI Lab

Dec 2024 - Jan 2025
  • Built a real-time intelligence engine with a scalable data architecture using Django, Elasticsearch, and Airflow
  • Helped e-commerce creators discover and analyze trending content across Most short-video platforms

Machine Learning Engineer Intern (LLM Pipeline Optimization)

Linvest21

May 2024 - Jul 2024
  • Built a foundational RAG pipeline that optimized LLM runtime by 30%
  • Engineered a complete CI/CD and high-availability infrastructure on AWS

Research & TA

Research Assistant, advised by Prof. Feng

Self-Drive Lab | New York University

Sep 2024 - May 2025
  • Enhanced autonomous robot navigation accuracy by integrating VLAD with an ORB-SLAM system

Research Assistant, advised by Prof. Samsonau

AI for Scientific Research Lab | New York University

Jan 2024 - May 2024
  • Developed a U-Net machine learning workflow that improved feature extraction accuracy from raw experimental data by 25%

TA for CS4613: Intro to Machine Learning

New York University

Sep 2024 - May 2025
  • Mentored and supported 1-students in Machine Learning through project guidance, HW, and office hours.

Tutor Leader

NYU TRIO Program

Jan 2024 - May 2025
  • Conducted one-on-one tutoring sessions to strengthen students' understanding of core computer science courses.

Education

MS, Artificial Intelligence Engineering

Carnegie Mellon University

Sep 2025 - Dec 2026
  • Specialized in AI Engineering and Machine Learning Systems
  • Focus on scalable AI infrastructure and production ML systems

BS, Computer Science, Minor: Math & Electrical Engineering

New York University

Sep 2022 - May 2025
  • GPA: 3.9/4.0
  • NYU Yearly Dean List 22-23 & 23-24, 24-25
  • Founder of NYU Quant & Engineering & Math Community
  • Public Chair of NYU IEEE
  • E-board of NYUCSSA
  • HackNYU Hackathon Team