Hong Kong (CNN Business) One of China's top tech billionaires faced an unusual interruption to his speech at a company event on Wednesday, when a man walked on stage and drenched him with water.

Robin Li, the co-founder and CEO of Chinese tech company Baidu , was speaking about self-driving and connected cars when a young man dressed in a black shirt came on stage and emptied a bottle of water over Li's head.

Li stepped back, trying to shake the water from his hair, and said, "What's your problem?"

Setbacks always lie on the road of advancing #AI, #Baidu Founder Robin Li Yanhong said at a conference in Beijing, after a man rushed to the stage to splash water on his face. #BaiduCreate2019 pic.twitter.com/cEIwDvD9IY — Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 3, 2019

"As you can see, all kinds of unexpected things may happen on our way forward in AI development," Li said a few seconds later. "But our determination won't change going forward. We firmly believe AI will change everyone's life," he added.

It was not immediately clear who the man was or what his motives were, and Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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