I’m Darren Su. My Chinese name is 苏鹏.
I build AI products and connect builders around the world. I began in engineering, grew from a learner into an organizer at Datawhale, and now start communities with others, build products, and explore agents and automation. Beyond work, I have helped run volunteer AI classes for young people and practice meditation. I write about what I encounter in work and life.
- AI Builder
- Head of City Ecosystem at Datawhale
- AGI Villa Co-founder
- n8n Ambassador
Beginning in engineering
In 2021, I interned on TiCDC development at PingCAP. Later, I worked on AI infrastructure, vector databases, and AI products.
Today I also organize product workshops where developers try a product and discuss their feedback with its founders. Writing code, observing how people use it, and talking through their needs are different ways I engage with technology.
From learning together to organizing together
I joined Datawhale in 2019 to learn AI. I later became a teaching assistant and event organizer, and became involved in city programs and community governance. Today, as Head of City Ecosystem at Datawhale, I work with local partners on AI learning and practical activities, bringing together learners, developers, universities, and open-source contributors.
Monica and I also started AGI Villa, where we meet AI builders, product teams, and founders from around the world. I want to connect AI and open-source communities in China with their peers worldwide, giving people a chance to work together. In this work, I pay attention to why people show up, how they take part, and whether they keep talking afterward.
I am also an n8n Ambassador. I use n8n for marketing automation and support the development of Chinese-language learning resources. I want to bring developers and business users together to build useful automations around real needs.
What happens after an introduction is a question I keep returning to.Explore my community work
Making products from problems I encounter
Founders in the community would ask me about hiring. I also saw how little a résumé or job description reveals about how someone approaches an unfamiliar problem, or what a job is actually like. I co-founded MatchPoint to make career exploration and understanding a role more concrete.
GlobalTechEvents brings together technology events scattered across different platforms and cities, making it easier to find events and communities worth following. I have also handed its daily operations to a multi-agent system.
In 2026, I wrote about the 31 agents I was running at the time. The article covers how they divided the work, but also failed tasks and automations I stopped. Using AI has not removed the need for my judgment. It has made the limits of my own attention and understanding more visible.
Volunteer teaching, meditation, and everyday encounters
I helped organize AI classes for young people through a collaboration between Datawhale, Pulushi (铺路石), and Jiuqian (久牵), connecting partners and helping recruit volunteers and prepare lessons. Our team delivered six classes. I taught the final one, helping students create stories and illustrations with AI and share them with the class.
Wang Ruinan and I wrote about the experience together. In the first class, only two students said they had used a large language model. It reminded me that the technology I work with every day is not part of everyone’s daily life. I do not know how much a few lessons can change, but they gave the students a chance to try it themselves.
During Chinese New Year in 2026, I spent a few days on a meditation retreat at Chom Thong Temple in northern Thailand. I had planned to practice quietly, but encountered heavy rain and a power outage. On the first evening, I found a soaked pigeon barely moving on the path. I brought it inside, dried it, kept it overnight, and let it out the next day.
I also talked with my teacher, Ani, about AI and how she used Claude and ChatGPT to prepare lessons. Her care for stray dogs moved me. I wrote about these encounters, ending the article with the hope of arranging an online meditation lesson and an invitation to discuss ways to support her dog sanctuary.
I have also been an invited speaker at an island gathering held by Xiangcun Biji (乡村笔记). Meditation and these encounters have a place in my personal writing alongside technology and products.
Read my meditation retreat notesKeep in touch
If you’re building a product, taking part in a community, or want to exchange experiences with AI or meditation, you’re welcome to write. If you have a project in mind, tell me about your team and the question you’re working through.