When a random man doused Baidu founder and chief executive Robin Li with bottled water earlier this month, the episode sparked multiple theories: maybe the perpetrator was a Luddite disturbed by a future of self-driving cars and smart speakers? Or perhaps the whole escapade was rigged to show off Mr Li's cool demeanour?
The rationale may have been lost on delegates — there was no audible answer to Mr Li's “What's your problem?”. But the symbolism, of cold water being poured on one of China's four big AI champions, was not.
Baidu itself is exhibit one. Once one of China tech's holy trinity along with Alibaba and Tencent — the trio were dubbed BAT — its market value has since been eclipsed by unlisted start-ups like ByteDance and now stands at about $40bn, or less than a tenth of its one-time peers.