Keynote Talk Tue, May 19, 2026 • 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM PDT Grand Ballroom

The Next Horizon of Systems: From MLSys to System Intelligence

Lidong Zhou

Abstract

MLSys showed how systems can accelerate AI. The next shift is broader: AI is beginning to reshape the practice of systems itself. This emerging paradigm, which we call system intelligence, goes beyond automating programming tasks. It enables new forms of reasoning, design, validation, and evolution for complex systems while preserving rigor. In this talk, I will argue that system intelligence changes not only what systems we can build, but also how we understand systems as a discipline. It pushes us to rethink systems principles and methodology, shifting attention from code-level complexity to greater rigor in specification, design, and validation. Through our experiences with system verification, I will discuss how this shift may help give systems a stronger scientific foundation.

Speaker

Lidong Zhou

Dr. Lidong Zhou is Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, Chief Scientist of the Microsoft Asia Pacific R&D Group, and Managing Director of Microsoft Research Asia. He has held research and leadership roles across Microsoft’s Silicon Valley, Redmond, and Asia labs. His work focuses on scalable, reliable, and trustworthy distributed systems, and has award papers at SOSP, OSDI, and USENIX ATC. He has also contributed to the design of large-scale systems that power Microsoft’s search, big data, cloud, and AI infrastructure.