Aerial view of Nanpu Bridge and Huangpu River in Shanghai Photo: VCG

　　"Many people ask me, coming from Morocco, then to France, and finally to China, how I define myself here." In an interview with the Global Times, Hamza Boukili, who holds dual Moroccan and French citizenship, raised this very question.

　　In his view, the answer is very clear: "In China, I am a university teacher and an AI startup founder. These two identities are coherent and allow me to see life in a very interesting perspective."

　　In 2016, Boukili went to Tongji University through an exchange program, marking his first trip to China. "I remember very clearly that after being in Tongji for two weeks, I had this strong and clear feeling to say that this place really deserves it."

　　By the end of his exchange period, he had two clear ideas in mind: "One of them, I had to learn Chinese. Second, I would be there looking for an good opportunity to come back to Shanghai. And here I am."

　　Today, Boukili holds a "dual identity." He is a faculty member in Applied Mathematics Paris Elite Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and the founder of Shanghai Yunsuan Tech company.

　　Boukili said that at first he simply wanted to focus on fulfilling his teaching duties. But in his fourth year at the institute, he began to think about how to make better and more interesting use of his time, and his involvement in some AI-related work gradually changed his thinking.

　　"Gradually, I realized that AI is becoming really a technical revolution that is going to shape differently our modern times," Boukili told the Global Times that the idea of starting his own AI startup emerged. He decided to establish a company focused on applying AI algorithms to energy optimization.