Zhouyi Xiaoxiao PhD researcher, University of Bristol R&D Scientist (AI) at Yuexin International, a cloud-communications company
The story, told as a random walk with shortcuts.
A maths PhD at the University of Bristol on how long random journeys take to first arrive — and, alongside it, building AI systems at Yuexin International. Below, the years themselves are drawn as such a journey. Watch where the light gathers. Chapters ↓
The 10-second version
So far Edition 01 as at 19 Oct 2026- Who
- PhD researcher, University of Bristol — first-passage times of random walks and the evaluation of AI agents R&D Scientist (AI), Yuexin International
- Latest
- First-author paper accepted at the UK AI Research Symposium (UKAIRS 2026): prompting AI agents in romanised Chinese (pinyin) — poster, Edinburgh, 25 Nov
- Single-author paper submitted to the physics journal Physical Review E, Jul 2026; its exact algebra machine-checked in the Lean proof assistant: 46 theorems
- Five AI systems live at Yuexin International since June 2026 — an AI gateway, a governed AI platform, a staff assistant
- Public reproduction archive v1.3.0 for a second paper, in preparation: code, proofs and records
- Early Career Enterprise Fellow 2026 (one of twelve) · 13 teaching roles · PhD student rep
- Contact
WeChat Channels: 周易潇潇 (search it in WeChat)
- Research
- AI
- Company
- Design
- Campus
- Media
- Making
- maths → AI
- Tianjin → Bristol MSc
- research → company
- Tianjin · maths — BSc Mathematics & Applied Mathematics, Tianjin University, Aug 2021 – Jun 2025. Completed.
- Tianjin maths guide — The Tianjin University maths guide, 22 Jul 2023 – 18 Dec 2025. Live.
- Hong Kong exchange — An exchange year at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Sep 2023 – Jun 2024. Completed.
- Video diary — A camera roll as a diary: 3,947 videos, Sep 2023 – Aug 2026. Completed.
- JLL Chengdu · intern — Research intern at JLL Chengdu, a real-estate consultancy, Jul–Sep 2024. Completed.
- Bristol MSc — MSc Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, with Distinction (the top UK grade), Sep 2024 – Sep 2025. Completed.
- Bay Area internship — Research internship at LiveX AI, a Bay Area AI start-up, 4–16 Aug 2025. Completed.
- PhD begins — PhD in Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, 3 Nov 2025. Ongoing.
- Graduate Teacher — A Graduate Teacher from the first term, 14 Nov – 16 Dec 2025. Signed.
- PhD student rep — PGR (postgraduate research) rep, Engineering Mathematics, 1 Dec 2025 – 15 Jul 2026. First term.
- Enterprise Fellow — Early Career Enterprise Fellow, 2026, 23 Dec 2025. Awarded.
- Research atlas — A public, bilingual research atlas, 25 Feb 2026. Live.
- AI-native method — An AI-native way of doing mathematics, 25 Feb 2026. Ongoing.
- SocialOS · agent hack — SocialOS: 1,222 commits in five days, 5–9 Mar 2026. Completed.
- London Cuts, 19–28 Apr 2026. Live demo.
- Input-method test kit — ime-eval: a harness for keyboard-friendly prompting, 28 May 2026. Completed.
- CatchMouse — CatchMouse, rebuilt for Apple Silicon, 29–30 May 2026. Shipped.
- Yuexin Intl · AI R&D — R&D Scientist (AI), Yuexin International, Jun 2026. Ongoing.
- Stand-up · 3 Jun — Seven minutes of stand-up about a maths PhD, 12 Feb – 3 Jun 2026. Performed.
- AI gateway · SSO — An internal AI gateway with single sign-on, 10–13 Jun 2026. Live.
- Festival of Enterprise — A PechaKucha (20 slides, 20 seconds each) at the Festival of Enterprise, 10 Jun 2026. Presented.
- Bilingual subtitles — A home-built bilingual subtitle pipeline, 10 Jun – 27 Aug 2026. Shipped.
- Trade show · Shanghai — MWC Shanghai 2026, a mobile-industry trade show, 24–26 Jun 2026. Attended.
- Pro Agent Bridge, 27–29 Jun 2026. In daily use.
- 13 roles · 3 schools — The July allocation for 2026–27, 16 Jul 2026. Ongoing.
- Spectral paper — Working paper: spectral diagnostics for encounter–reaction models, Jul 2026.
- Trust Joint 2.0 logo — ‘Trust Joint 2.0’: a logo, from sketches to final mark, 23 Jul 2026. Completed.
- Governance platform — An enterprise platform for governed AI access, 25–31 Jul 2026. Live.
- Phys. Rev. E paper — Geometry-controlled folds: the double-peak paper, 30 Jul 2026. Submitted to Physical Review E · Jul 2026.
- AI primer · 93 min — ‘From SMS to Intelligent Channels’: a 93-minute primer on AI models, 5 Aug 2026. Delivered.
- UKAIRS accepted — Accepted at UKAIRS 2026: the first AI paper, 11 Aug 2026.
- WeChat studio — A WeChat content studio, 29 Aug 2026. Launched.
- Trade show · Madrid — WWC 2026 in Madrid, a telecoms trade show, 16–18 Sep 2026. Attended.
- Yuexin AI Assistant — Yuexin AI Assistant — web and Windows, 21 Sep 2026. Live.
- Careers blog feature — ‘From strawberry patch to PhD’, 21 Sep 2026. Published.
- Programmable peaks — Programmable multimodality: the fixed-budget paper, 23 Sep 2026. Manuscript in preparation.
- Desktop agent — From chat window to desktop agent, 23 Sep 2026. In development.
- UKAIRS, Edinburgh · first reached at step 19 — UK AI Research Symposium (UKAIRS 2026), Edinburgh, 24–25 Nov 2026. Scheduled · poster on 25 Nov.
Try it: click an event to aim the walkers · drag across the plate to draw your own shortcut
Arrival times
UKAIRS, Edinburgh
- shortcut (fast)
- the long way (slow)
- if there were no shortcuts
steps →
Static print of the same run — goes live with JavaScript
- walkers arrived
- 15,978
- took a shortcut πsc
- 34%
- fast · slow peak (step)
- t₁ · t₂ 119 · 1,612
Two peaks · bimodal
How to read the plate. First passage is the moment a random walker first reaches a target. Here every milestone is a target; walkers set out from Tianjin, and the red lines are shortcuts actually taken — 3+1 to Bristol (three undergraduate years at Tianjin University, one of them on exchange in Hong Kong, and the fourth as a Bristol MSc), maths to AI, research to a company. With shortcuts, arrivals split into a fast group and a slow group — two peaks. That split is the result of the PhD.
Try it: click an event to aim the walkers · drag across the plate to draw your own shortcutTry it: tap an event to open it, then aim the walkers · long-press, then drag, to draw a shortcut
Fig. 0 — The Plate Toy model: walkers drift toward the event you choose; shortcuts jump. Red = took a shortcut (fast). Silver = the long way (slow). The paper’s exact ring model is in Chapter 01.
Research AI Company Design Campus Media Making
Counts so far
Aggregates only; every number links to its evidence.
Across the chapters
Threads that run through it
-
Maths → AI
The same habit — measure the hidden route — aimed first at random walkers, then at AI agents.
-
Built for others
A guide for the next cohort, a tool for farms, an assistant for colleagues, a library for one tutorial group.
-
Bilingual bridge
Many projects ship in English and Chinese — including a paper about the space between them.
-
On stage
From a first press mention in Chengdu to stand-up in Bristol, a PechaKucha (20 slides, 20 seconds each), a 93-minute primer and two trade floors.
-
Proof & audit
Trust, but verify: computer-checked theorems, 325 million simulated walkers, negative results kept, AI reviewers before every launch.
01–12
Chapters
Each chapter is one kind of work on the plate, and each opens with a figure you can play with.
Chapter 01 · Research
First Passage
PhD research: when a random walker first arrives
Why one target can have two arrival peaks, and exactly when the second dies: a single-author paper submitted to Physical Review E (a physics journal).
Chapter 02 · AI paper
Skipping the IME?
First AI paper · UKAIRS 2026, the UK AI Research Symposium
Can AI agents read raw pinyin (romanised Chinese)? The Edinburgh poster says: for routine prompts, yes; homophones need the key word in characters.
03–12 · Swipe to explore →
Chapter 03 · Company
The Engine Room
R&D Scientist (AI) at Yuexin International, a cloud-communications company
Since June 2026 at Yuexin International: five AI systems built and live in four months — a gateway, a governed platform, a staff assistant.
Chapter 04 · Design
On Stage
Brand design, trade shows and talks
Giving a cloud-communications company an AI-era face: a logo system, materials for two trade shows (MWC Shanghai, WWC Madrid), a 93-minute AI primer.
Chapter 05 · Teaching
Teaching
Graduate Teacher & Demonstrator
In front of students from the first month of the PhD; for 2026–27, 13 roles across three schools: tutorials, labs, problem classes, marking.
Chapter 06 · Student rep
Representing
PhD student rep & open-day ambassador
PhD student rep for Engineering Mathematics (a year, and now a second), scholarship panellist, open-day ambassador — and seven minutes of stand-up.
Chapter 07 · Venture
Map in. Traps out.
BioPath · Early Career Enterprise Fellowship
First-passage maths as a product: BioPath tells farms where to put pest traps, with the proof attached. Early Career Enterprise Fellow, 2026.
Chapter 08 · Media
Signal
Media, posts and video
What was published, and the studio behind it: LinkedIn as a notebook, a WeChat studio since August 2026, bilingual subtitles, this site.
Chapter 09 · Internship
Westward
Silicon Valley, 2025 · an internship at LiveX AI, a Bay Area AI start-up
Summer 2025 in Silicon Valley: an entrepreneurship programme and a research internship at LiveX AI — where the turn toward AI began.
Chapter 10 · Projects
Workshop
Side projects
Built in the gaps, mostly so someone else could move faster: a maths guide, a travel-story app, a cursor tool, agent bridges.
Chapter 11 · Education
Roots
Education: Tianjin → Hong Kong → Bristol
Tianjin, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Geneva, Bristol: maths with an oar in hand, then the 3+1 route (three undergraduate years, then a Bristol MSc).
Chapter 12 · Now
Now & Next
What is in progress
Edinburgh poster on 25 November, a paper submitted to Physical Review E (a physics journal), another in preparation, a desktop agent in development.
∂ The absorbing boundary
Contact
You have arrived. Say hello.
Every walker ends here. Write about research, AI products, teaching, speaking — or just to say hello.
English or Chinese (中文) — both fine.
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