Meet our new PIs: Shaoxiong Ji

Ji received his doctoral degree from Aalto University and has built an international research career at the University of Helsinki, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Shanghai AI Lab, Nanyang Technological University and Silo.AI, among others. Before moving to Turku, he led a research group at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. Ji has a strong background in large language models, multilingual NLP, multimodal artificial intelligence and AI applications in health technology.

This new assistant professorship is one of thirteen AI professorships established in Finland with the support of a significant donation from Foundation PS, founded by Peter Sarlin.

What motivates you in your research?

I am driven by the challenge of making AI more inclusive and accessible. I’ve seen how language barriers can limit the benefits of technology. My motivation lies in bridging that gap through multilingual NLP, ensuring that large language models aren't just powerful in English but also useful to speakers of many languages, including very low-resource ones. I am also deeply motivated by the potential for AI in healthcare, where intelligent systems can assist clinicians in distilling complex patient data into actionable insights, ultimately improving outcomes and saving lives.

What are you most looking forward to as an assistant professor and group leader?

I look forward to building a collaborative ecosystem. Leading an ELLIS group means being part of a prestigious network that prioritizes excellence in machine learning. I’m excited to mentor the next generation of researchers at the Institute and University of Turku and foster a culture where we can tackle high-risk, high-reward AI problems together.

What kind of research do you plan to pursue in the coming years?

My focus will be on the intersection of multilingual, multimodal AI and health technology. I want to move beyond text-only models to systems that can understand visual and tabular data, particularly for medical diagnostics and patient care. Additionally, I plan to continue advancing the efficiency of LLMs so they can be deployed effectively in real-world, resource-constrained environments.

What do you find particularly inspiring in Turku’s technology environment and academic community?

The TurkuNLP group is a powerhouse in language modeling. The synergy between the university's academic rigor and the local industry's appetite for innovation, especially in health-tech, is a perfect match for my research goals.