204: Chapter 203 Intelligent Life and the Struggle

What is Artificial Intelligence?

In academia, it is defined as a program based on certain logical foundations that can autonomously determine whether conditions are met, output corresponding results, and possess capabilities for extraction, summarization, generalization of common characteristics, and autonomous learning.

And what is Artificial Intelligence Life?

It is very simple.

It is a digital life form in the true sense, created by humans as a tool, possessing human-like thinking capabilities and processing logic, and capable of independent thought and choice.

This kind of thing has transcended the scope of mere programs.

It is no longer rigid, no longer constrained by program frameworks; it is independent, autonomous, possesses its own emotional system, and can understand all human behavioral logic.

These two are fundamentally different.

Professor Zeng is confident he could create an Artificial Intelligence within a hundred years, but even if given another thousand, he might not be able to create an Artificial Intelligence Life.

Because to be called an intelligent life, it must first possess something unique to intelligent life.

This thing is called—a soul.

This is not something that can be explained by Science, nor is it a field that can be explored by current scientific means.

How did human intelligence originate? No one knows.

How is the soul carried? No one knows.

How does death affect the soul level? No one knows.

This seems more like the realm of the mystical or philosophical, rather than the technological.

Not just him, even if you gathered the world's top experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence, faced with this question, no one would dare to say this word— "Yes!"

But now, there is.

An eighteen-year-old young man who is merely a university student, facing this question, said without hesitation, with absolute certainty: "Yes!"

The possibilities behind this sent a chill through Professor Zeng and Principal Ding.

Wang Shuo, how could he be so certain that all this would happen? If it really happened, what kind of scene would that be?

"Teacher..." Professor Zeng swallowed, a gesture he hadn't made in over a decade: "Is that really what Wang Shuo said?"

"Yes."

Dean Qin fell silent for a moment: "I don't know if what he said is true or false. I only know that zero egg is real, and that Wang Shuo created an Artificial Intelligence is also real. Perhaps..."

"We really can look forward to it."

Look forward to it?

Professor Zeng imagined that one day in the future, some Artificial Intelligence Life would open its eyes, see him first, and then...

What should it call him? Father? Or grandfather?

Or, perhaps an Artificial Intelligence Life commits crimes rampantly on the internet, and then more Artificial Intelligence Life police officers arrest it? Maybe they even need human help?

Or perhaps, an Artificial Intelligence Life establishes its own safe zone, creates its own tribe in imitation of humans, and lives forever in the two-dimensional world, ignoring worldly affairs?

Artificial Intelligence Life, would such a thing really appear?

Professor Zeng wanted to refute it, but found he had no way to do so.

In a sense, the emergence of zero egg had already put Wang Shuo ahead of him, someone who had been immersed in the field of Artificial Intelligence for decades.

He now understood why his teacher had changed his mind.

If it were him, he would change his mind too.

Taking Wang Shuo as a student—wouldn't that just be making trouble for himself?

As for dragging Wang Shuo in to add to his own reputation?

Neither he nor Dean Qin had ever thought of such a thing.

"This visit has been a real surprise."

Dean Qin sighed slightly: "Principal Ding, to be able to encounter such a student, your school is truly blessed."

Principal Ding recovered from the shock brought by the Artificial Intelligence Life. Hearing the praise, he immediately grinned.

"I can approve your project now, but I have a request."

A request?

Principal Ding was full of confidence and waved his hand: "Dean Qin, please, feel free to ask."

"Wang Shuo must join the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

"No prob..."

The two words slipped out before Principal Ding suddenly realized what was said and was instantly stunned: "Dean Qin, what did you say? Did I mishear?"

"You didn't mishear." Dean Qin smiled slightly: "I believe it is no longer appropriate for Wang Shuo to continue staying at your school; he needs to be exposed to more high-end fields."

"Therefore, I have decided to recruit Wang Shuo into the Chinese Academy of Sciences as an exception, without an entrance exam."

Principal Ding was dumbfounded.

Everything was going so well, why suddenly poach someone? And poaching from his own backyard, at that.

Besides, Wang Shuo was still a freshman and hadn't experienced his colorful college life yet. Wouldn't your conscience hurt doing this?

"Dean Qin..." Principal Ding rubbed his hands in a dilemma: "Isn't this a bit inappropriate? Wang Shuo has only just started his freshman year?"

"Freshman year?" Dean Qin looked up at Principal Ding and smiled: "Principal Ding, if I recall correctly, you recruited Wang Shuo as a university lecturer as an exception? He is no longer a freshman, but one of your faculty members."

"That's not quite it." Principal Ding became more serious; if he didn't fight for him now, this treasure would be snatched away by this old man: "Dean Qin, Wang Shuo is a very motivated student with excellent grades. Even if he has had outstanding achievements, he shouldn't graduate directly. This goes against the rules."

"Rules are dead, but people are flexible. Principal Ding, sometimes we need to adapt to circumstances and not be too rigid." Dean Qin's voice deepened as he brought out his trump card: "Furthermore, if I recall correctly, when you recruited Wang Shuo as a lecturer as an exception, it wasn't approved by the school board, nor was it reported, right? Principal Ding, this is a serious procedural error."

Listen to that, what kind of talk is that?

Does he have no shame?

Ding Congsheng glared at Dean Qin in front of him, watching his serious expression, his teeth practically shattering. He never expected that for the sake of Wang Shuo, Dean Qin would disregard his status and do such a shameless thing.

He... he actually resorted to direct threats!

But... the threat was very effective.

As one of the major departments directly under the State Council, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Dean Qin, in his capacity as Dean, reporting this "minor issue" to the Ministry of Education, which was at the same level.

Moreover, Ding Congsheng believed he would absolutely do it.

This... rank crushes people, and Dean Qin's background was much deeper than his, which was equivalent to being crushed by several ranks; he was pressed down so hard he couldn't even lift his coffin lid.

Ding Congsheng sullenly submitted.

"Don't be too worried."

Watching the expression of resignation on Ding Congsheng's face, Dean Qin couldn't help but laugh: "Wang Shuo will still be a freshman at your school, but he will also hold a position at the Hanzhong City branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

"We will provide him with the safest research environment and research materials."

"We can provide that here too." Ding Congsheng curled his lip, still very unconvinced.

Dean Qin laughed: "How many resources can you provide?"

"A project team, with Wang Shuo as the leader, he can pick any team members, use any equipment, we provide at least 50 million in annual funding, and the school will not take a single cent of the project results."

"That is indeed not bad."

Dean Qin nodded. For a university, being able to put up so much was already quite impressive. 50 million in funding almost accounted for more than half of the university's research funds. For this, the university would even have to sacrifice many ongoing research projects.

The price was not insignificant.

"We don't offer much: a project team, plus 50 million in research funding, and on top of that, 'Shenchao'."

Ding Congsheng immediately widened his eyes.

This... this is bullying!

The rest is nothing; it looks similar to what he offered, but the difference lies in "Shenchao".

"Shenchao" is the eighth-ranked supercomputer in China! Its floating-point calculation speed can reach 64.9 quadrillion operations per second. Compared to the supercomputer at his own school, which at best could reach 1 quadrillion operations per second, it was countless times better!

Even a pig would know how to choose.

"Artificial Intelligence has always faced two major problems."

"Wang Shuo has already solved the first problem of Artificial Intelligence, which is the issue of architecture and algorithms, and has successfully created Artificial Intelligence. We now want to help him solve the second problem, which is the issue of computing power. If computing power is insufficient, no matter how excellent the Artificial Intelligence is, it cannot function."

"Supercomputers cost hundreds of billions; even if Wang Shuo went to rob a bank, he couldn't build his own supercomputing center that quickly. And if a supercomputing center isn't built, zero egg's computing power will run into problems. This is a problem Wang Shuo will soon face as zero egg goes on sale."

Ding Congsheng was somewhat helpless. He admitted that Dean Qin's words were very reasonable, with a unique insight that could see the essence of the matter at a glance.

Insufficient computing power was Wang Shuo's biggest predicament at present, and also a predicament he could not solve on his own.

After all, the accumulation of resources takes time, and Wang Shuo didn't have that much time.

According to Professor Zeng's estimation, after selling at most one hundred thousand units of zero egg, zero egg would face the problem of insufficient computing power. By then, situations like delays, sluggishness, and abnormal reactions might occur, which would be unacceptable for zero egg.

Therefore, Dean Qin immediately brought out "Shenchao".

This is the boldness of a big shot; his resources were incomparable. Even if he ran across the country and talked until his tongue went dry, he wouldn't necessarily be able to secure the usage rights of a supercomputer of the same level.

However, even if he lost, he wouldn't lose his spirit. It was impossible for him to concede like this; he had to keep struggling a bit.

"Dean Qin, let's just let Wang Shuo choose for himself, how about that?"

Dean Qin was surprised and nodded slightly: "Fine, as long as you don't say I'm bullying you."