Former JD.com Executive Cai Lei Wages AI-Powered War Against ALS, Advancing Nearly 300 Drug Pipelines
核心洞察
Cai Lei, former JD.com VP diagnosed with ALS in 2019, has entered the terminal stage and now communicates solely via eye-tracking technology and AI-recreated voice.
He helped establish China's first ALS pathological sample bank and built the world's largest ALS patient research data platform, connecting tens of thousands of patients.
Nearly 300 drug research pipelines have been advanced, with more than 30 projects entering clinical trials, and some targeted therapies showing potential to slow or halt disease progression.
Cai Lei, former vice-president of Chinese e-commerce giant JD Group (搜索), released a public speech video titled Countdown on the video-sharing platform Bilibili on World Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (搜索) Day, turning what could have been a life-ending narrative into a powerful declaration of war against the disease.
Diagnosed with ALS over six years ago, Cai is said to have entered the terminal stage of the disease. Completely paralyzed and unable to speak, he appeared in the video using AI technology to recreate his voice, delivering a message that redefined the meaning of a "countdown."
"The countdown is not to the end of my life, but to humanity's victory over ALS," Cai said. "I will witness the day when this disease, which has brought suffering to more than 500,000 families around the world, is defeated."
Despite losing nearly all physical mobility, Cai continues to communicate with the world through eye-tracking technology. His assistant told the mainland media outlet Yitiao that Cai has survived several near-death episodes, including one in which phlegm blocked his throat, leaving him unable to breathe for about a minute. Four carers are needed to help him rise from a chair or return to bed, while muscle atrophy causes him pain and numbness after sitting for long periods.
"If one day I can no longer see, I will connect to a brain-computer interface and continue the battle with my mind," Cai said. "And if my brain can no longer function, perhaps by then we will be able to transfer consciousness into embodied robots. I will simply change my body and keep fighting."
From Patient to Research Advocate
Since being diagnosed with the disease in 2019, Cai has transformed from a patient into one of China's leading advocates for rare disease research. According to Capitalnews, the WeChat account of Beijing Daily, Cai helped establish China's first pathological sample bank for ALS research and has worked with BGI Group (搜索), a Chinese life sciences and genomics company, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' supercomputing center to advance genetic research into the disease.
Cai, now 48, has spent seven years battling ALS, an incurable disease that progressively attacks motor neurons. He now works 12-hour days, devoting what time he has left to accelerating the search for a cure.
Building the World's Largest ALS Research Platform
Cai helped build the world's largest ALS patient research data platform. By applying an AI-powered research system, the platform has significantly accelerated drug development and scientific studies. The platform connects tens of thousands of ALS patients to support research and treatment development.
To date, nearly 300 drug research pipelines have been advanced, with more than 30 projects entering clinical trials. Some targeted therapies have already shown the potential to slow or even halt disease progression in trial participants.
In addition, Cai has personally invested in and raised more than 100 million yuan ($14.7 million) for ALS research, and established a medical big-data platform connecting tens of thousands of ALS patients to support research and treatment development.
Cai expressed confidence that rapid advances in medical science and technology have placed ALS itself on a countdown toward defeat, framing his personal battle as part of a broader scientific offensive against the neurodegenerative disease that affects more than 500,000 families worldwide.