58.com CEO Urges Business Leaders to Personally Drive AI Transformation

At the Yabuli Forum Summer Summit, 58.com CEO Yao Jinbo urged corporate leaders to personally master and lead AI transformation within their companies rather than delegating it to subordinates. He stated that AI adoption across production, management, and marketing is no longer optional, but mandatory for enterprise survival. The commentary highlights a growing trend among tech executives advocating for top-down AI adoption driven directly by C-level leadership. It emphasizes that real corporate AI integration requires updating executive mindsets alongside hiring AI-native talent to cut costs and innovate core operations. Yao noted that while companies must recruit younger AI-native talent, founders and CEOs must personally understand and deploy AI across the full operational value chain. Yao himself holds a dual degree in computer applications and chemistry and founded 58.com in 2005 after previously creating a domain trading platform.