As a Chief Researcher at Hitachi’s Central Research Laboratory, my work bridges the gap between theoretical advancements and real-world applications in Reinforcement Learning (RL), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Bayesian Inference. With over a decade of research experience, I have contributed to multiple AI-driven innovations, including multi-agent RL platforms, NLP-based financial news evaluation systems, and AI-enhanced microscopic imaging. 

Holding a Ph.D. in Numerical Analysis from the University of Tokyo (2013) and a B.S. in Mathematics & Physics from Tsinghua University (2007), I bring a rigorous mathematical foundation to AI research. My contributions have led to several patents, best paper awards, and high-ranking performances in global AI competitions such as SemEval and L2RPN. 

My research philosophy centers on mathematically grounded AI, scalable algorithm design, and interdisciplinary problem-solving, aiming to push the boundaries of intelligent systems. I am always open to collaborations in advancing AI’s theoretical and applied frontiers.

Publications

Journals

1. Jun-ichiro Watanabe, Yang Shao, Naoto Miura, "Underwater and airborne monitoring of marine ecosystems and debris", Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 13(4), 044509, 2019. [link] Best Paper Award

2. Yang Shao, Takahiro Yamakawa, Takahiro Kikuchi, Kazuya Shibata, Seiichi Koshizuka, "A three-dimensional coupling method for fluid-structure interaction problems by using Explicit MPS method and Hamiltonian MPS method", Transactions of the Japan Society for Computational Engineering and Science, pp.20130004, 2013. [link] 

3. Yang Shao, Hirotaka Ito, Kazuya Shibata, Seiichi Koshizuka, "An Hamiltonian MPS formulation for Reissner-Mindlin shell", Transactions of the Japan Society for Computational Engineering and Science, pp.20120013, 2012. [link] 

Conferences

1. Esaki, Kanako, Tadayuki Matsumura, Takeshi Kato, Shunsuke Minusa, Yang Shao, and Hiroyuki Mizuno. "Artificial Minimal Self on Free Energy Principle for Autonomous Cooperative Behavior." In ALIFE 2024: Proceedings of the 2024 Artificial Life Conference. MIT Press, 2024.

2. Matsumura, Tadayuki, Kanako Esaki, Shao Yang, Chihiro Yoshimura, and Hiroyuki Mizuno. "Active inference with empathy mechanism for socially behaved artificial agents in diverse situations." Artificial Life 30, no. 2 (2024): 277-297.

3. Esaki, Kanako, Tadayuki Matsumura, Shunsuke Minusa, Yang Shao, Chihiro Yoshimura, and Hiroyuki Mizuno. "Dynamical perception-action loop formation with developmental embodiment for hierarchical active inference." In International Workshop on Active Inference, pp. 14-28. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2023.

4. Matsumura, Tadayuki, Kanako Esaki, Shunsuke Minusa, Yang Shao, Chihiro Yoshimura, and Hiroyuki Mizuno. "Social Emotional Valence for Regulating Empathy in Active Inference." In Artificial Life Conference Proceedings 35, vol. 2023, no. 1, p. 139. One Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1209, USA journals-info@ mit. edu: MIT Press, 2023.

5. Yang Shao, "HCTI at SemEval-2017 Task 1: Use convolutional neural network to evaluate Semantic Textual Similarity", Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, 2017. [link] State-of-the-art results

6. Yang Shao, "Several simple neural networks for evaluating semantic textual similarity", International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Workshop on Semantic Machine Learning, 2017. 

7. Yang Shao, Shinji Tarumi, Toshinori Miyoshi, Yasutaka Hasegawa, Hideyuki Ban, "Predicting incidence rate of diabetes mellitus from health checkup data", International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Workshop on Knowledge Discovery in Healthcare Data, 2016. 

8. Yang Shao, Toshinori Miyoshi, Yasutaka Hasegawa, Hideyuki Ban, "Evaluating the Uncertainty of a Bayesian Network Query Response by Using Joint Probability Distribution", IEEE 14th International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications, 2015. [link] Acceptance rate 30.0%

Patents

1. Information processing method and system using neural network, and its construction system, JP2019204268A, 2019.11.28. [link]

2. Information processing apparatus and information processing system, JP2019133563A, 2019.8.8. [link]

3. Article providing order control system and method, JP2017219982A, 2017.12.14. [link]

4. Computing machine and analytical index calculation method, JP2017151614A, 2017.8.31. [link]

5. Computer system and graphical model correction method, JP6425743B2, WO2016121054A1, 2016.8.4. [link] [link]

6. Computer system and graphical model management method, JP6422512B2, WO2016121053A1, 2016.8.4. [link] [link]

Invited Talks

1. Y.SHAO, "Learning to run a power network by using reinforcement learning", The Annual Meeting of The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, Tokyo, 2020

2. Y.SHAO, “Using convolutional neural network to evaluate Semantic Textual Similarity”, International Conference on Soft Computing and Machine Learning, Wuhan, 2019