Google DeepMind director becomes first Vietnamese to deliver graduation speech at Asia's top computer science school

"I still vividly remember the feeling of walking into the school on my very first day," Thang told graduates at the NUS Computing master's commencement ceremony on July 10.

He recalled seeing vending machines and air-conditioned lecture halls for the first time, along with the opportunity to join a special undergraduate research program. His early research in information retrieval later led him to machine translation, laying the foundation for his career, he said.

His path, however, was not without setbacks. In 2009, after spending two years on research without publishing a paper, he questioned whether he should apply for a Ph.D. program. His supervisor, Min-Yen Kan, advised him to stay at NUS as a research assistant because he believed Thang had little chance of being admitted to a top university, he said.

"Pausing my application at the time felt like falling back, like falling behind because all my other friends were going to graduate school. But I trusted Dr. Kan."

Luong Minh Thang, principal scientist and director of research at Google DeepMind. Photo from NUS's Youtube

A year later, four of his research papers were accepted for publication, helping him secure admission to Stanford University in the U.S. for a Ph.D. He joined Google in 2016. In 2023, as generative AI surged, he founded the Superhuman Reasoning team to develop AI systems capable of solving problems from the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), an ambition many considered unrealistic.

Two years later, the team's AI systems, AlphaGeometry, AlphaProof and Gemini Deep Think, reached performance levels comparable to IMO silver and gold medalists. The achievement also fulfilled a personal dream, allowing him to attend the competition for the first time, not as a contestant but as the researcher behind the AI systems more than two decades after missing the opportunity himself, he said.

Concluding his speech, Thang urged graduates to be patient and avoid sacrificing strong foundations for success that comes only a few months or years earlier.

He also encouraged them to pursue ambitious challenges instead of choosing easier goals, even if others considered them impossible. "And finally, be human centered," he said. "Keep in touch with your friends, your faculties, support each other and really harness the power of AI to benefit humanity."

Kan, NUS vice provost for undergraduate education at the School of Computing, said he most remembered Thang for his decisiveness in research. After spending his first year studying lyric alignment, a natural language processing research area, Thang switched to machine translation, a decision Kan described as wise.

Kan said Thang's Luong Attention mechanism, one of the best-known deep learning techniques he developed, helped Google Translate transition from rule-based translation to neural machine translation, producing more natural translations for millions of users.

That contribution was one of the reasons the school invited him to address this year's graduates, Kan said, adding that Thang is the first Vietnamese to deliver a commencement speech at the event.

Thang graduated from the High School for the Gifted under Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City before studying at NUS. He is now principal scientist and director of research at Google DeepMind.

Founded in 1975, the NUS ranks third globally for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and fourth for Computer Science in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026. It is ranked first in Asia in both fields.