The Chinese Whiz Kids of Silicon Valley

Over six months, Viola Zhou works her way into the scene of Chinese researchers gathering in Silicon Valley to make their name in the burgeoning artificial-intelligence industry. “Everything else has become irrelevant,” one tells her. Adds another, “Other things are just not as cool.” Zhou, who briefly lives alongside some of her subjects at a certain Facebook founder’s former residence, creates a complex (and occasionally comical) study of singleminded ambition set against professional and geopolitical anxieties.

Five people lived in the house at the time of my visit. Those included Elvis, who occupied Zuckerberg’s old room; Elvis’ younger brother, who was working on his own AI startup; and a young Chinese woman working on something investment-related. When I told her I wasn’t founding a startup but that I worked in the media, a pitiful look came across her face. “That’s okay,” she said in a comforting tone.