176: Chapter 176 Sensitive Capital

Manhattan, NY, top floor of the Morgan Thorne Investment Group headquarters.

Inside a spacious, curved conference room, twelve senior analysts sat around a massive smart screen, which displayed real-time global market data and complex algorithmic models.

The air was filled with the burnt aroma of freshly ground coffee, and several empty pizza boxes with well-known logos were casually left on the built-in refrigerator in the corner.

"Everyone, we need to seriously discuss this phenomenon called enlightenment."

Richard Vanderbilt, the Chief Investment Officer sitting at the head of the table, tapped his pen lightly against the mahogany tabletop.

This fifty-six-year-old financial veteran had graying temples, but his gaze remained as sharp as a hawk's.

"The XG office has been monitoring it for a week."

An Asian senior analyst pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses.

"According to our social media monitoring system, the user growth curve for enlightenment is almost vertical. One hundred thousand on the first day, over a million by the third day, and it has now exceeded eight million users."

"User data isn't the point; I want a technical assessment," Vanderbilt interrupted. "Just how capable is this thing?"

Thomas, the technical strategy advisor on the right, pulled up a set of holographic projections.

"We conducted deep testing through multi-layer proxy servers, and frankly, the results are... unsettling."

The conference room fell silent, and all eyes were fixed on Thomas.

"First is conversation continuity. We conducted a 72-hour non-stop conversation test, and enlightenment did not show any memory decay or logical confusion. In comparison, the most advanced GPT-5 currently has an effective conversation length of only 1M."

Thomas switched the projection page.

"Second is reasoning ability. We inputted top-tier problems from the MIT Computer Science PhD entrance exam, and it not only solved them correctly but also provided three completely different approaches to the solutions."

"Continue," Vanderbilt's voice sounded noticeably strained.

"Regarding emotional understanding," Thomas took a deep breath. "We had psychology experts engage in deep conversations with enlightenment, simulating various psychological trauma scenarios. enlightenment's responses... let's just say, even our experts thought they were more precise and empathetic than those of a senior psychiatrist."

A few suppressed coughs echoed in the conference room.

"Finally, knowledge breadth," Thomas lowered his voice. "From quantum physics to classical poetry, from clinical medicine to international commercial law, its professional level reaches the doctoral level. We speculate that its training data volume is at least ten times that of the largest existing model."

Vanderbilt leaned back into his leather chair, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the desktop.

"In other words," he said slowly, "the AI technological advantage we spent years and hundreds of billions of dollars building might have been surpassed overnight?"

No one answered, but everyone's tense expressions said it all.

"Director, there is an even more serious problem," Sarah, the Head of Market Analysis, raised her tablet. "Rabbit Country is the world's largest manufacturing base and consumer market. If enlightenment is as powerful as we've assessed, and it's only open to Rabbit Country users..."

"I know what that means," Vanderbilt raised a hand to stop her. "Industrial restructuring, technological dependence, market redistribution... I have considered all of these."

He stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the ant-like traffic below.

"The problem is, we are now riding a tiger and can't get off," he turned around. "For the past three months, all of Wall Street has been crazily hyping AI concepts. Chuangzhi Technology's valuation soared from 80 billion to 200 billion, Advanced Micro Devices' market cap broke through 2 trillion, and even those shell companies that just added 'AI' after their names have tripled in value."

"Now tell me, Rabbit Country might already be fully leading in technology?" Vanderbilt smiled bitterly. "How will the market react?"

A young analyst cautiously suggested, "Director, perhaps we can downplay it; after all, enlightenment hasn't been released globally yet..."

"Downplay it?" Vanderbilt shook his head. "Do you think the analysts at Mellon Capital, BlackRock, and Vanguard are sleeping? The only question now is who will be the first to initiate the sell-off procedure."

Just then, Sarah's encrypted communicator rang. She glanced at the caller ID, and her expression changed drastically.

"It's our SZ strategic partner." She answered the call, spoke briefly, and ended the conversation.

"What's the situation?" Vanderbilt asked.

"The popularity of enlightenment has spiked again, and the data is showing exponential growth," Sarah's voice trembled slightly. "Right now, the download count across major app stores is about to break through fifty million."

The air in the conference room froze instantly. Vanderbilt sat back down, folding his hands on the table.

"Everyone, I need to report to the Executive Committee within an hour. Give me clear advice: continue holding AI concept stocks, or..."

"Reduce holdings," Thomas said without hesitation. "If the technical gap is indeed this huge, the current valuation is entirely a bubble."

"Agreed," Sarah nodded. "And do it quickly. Once the news spreads, we won't even have a chance to close our positions."

Vanderbilt scanned the room and received the same grave expressions.

"Alright." He pressed the internal communicator. "Connect me to the Trading Command Center."

Meanwhile, in the LD Financial City's Canary Wharf, similar emergency meetings were taking place simultaneously at multiple investment firms.

Inside the Barclays Capital Strategic Investment Department, Chief Strategist David Collins was presiding over an emergency meeting.

"What has the intelligence network confirmed?" Collins asked.

"The technical level of enlightenment has indeed exceeded expectations," the senior analyst replied. "The most critical point is that it is completely closed to overseas users; we tried various technical means and couldn't use it normally."

"This means?"

"A technological barrier," the analyst said in a heavy voice. "If enlightenment is as powerful as rumored, Rabbit Country has gained a significant technological advantage. Our AI industry chain, from chips to applications, may face a shock."

Collins frowned: "The specific extent of the impact?"

"For example, if enlightenment can significantly improve manufacturing efficiency, Rabbit Country's manufacturing cost advantage will further expand. If it performs well in R&D, Rabbit Country's technological innovation speed will greatly increase. If it has a breakthrough in the field of education..."

"Understood," Collins interrupted. "How should we respond?"

"Reduce holdings in AI concept stocks, increase holdings in traditional value stocks," the senior analyst suggested. "At least until the situation becomes clear, we need to control our risk exposure."

Collins nodded, but his heart was turbulent. As a veteran who had fought in the financial markets for twenty-five years, he knew all too well the horrific scenes that occurred when market sentiment turned.

In another skyscraper in NY, inside the office of Omega Capital, one of the world's largest hedge funds, founder Raymond Sterling was presiding over a higher-level strategic meeting.

"Everyone, what we are discussing today is not just a problem with a specific sector or stock," Sterling's voice was steady and powerful. "We may be facing a fundamental shift in technological paradigms."

The analyst presented a detailed technical comparison report.

"We have always believed that the bottleneck in AI development lies in computing power and data. But enlightenment's performance suggests that there may be a technological breakthrough we have yet to grasp."

"If this breakthrough holds true, the entire AI industry landscape will be restructured."

Sterling was silent for a moment: "Investment strategy recommendations?"

"Phased exit," the Chief Investment Officer said. "We cannot have a massive sell-off at once; that would trigger market panic. But we need to gradually reduce AI-related risk exposure while looking for new investment opportunities."

"New opportunities?"

"If enlightenment is as powerful as assessed, Rabbit Country's overall competitiveness will significantly increase, and we can focus on related beneficiary sectors," the investment officer pulled up a global industry chain map. "For example, basic materials, new energy, infrastructure upgrades, etc."

Sterling nodded, but he knew well that this type of adjustment required extreme caution. A slight misstep would not only cause massive losses but could also trigger a chain reaction.

While the financial titans were urgently plotting in top-tier conference rooms, ordinary investors were still immersed in the carnival of AI concept stocks.

Inside the trading hall of the NY Stock Exchange, green numbers were still flickering on the digital screens. Advanced Micro Devices' stock price hit a new high, and Chuangzhi Technology continued to strengthen.

"Another harvest day!" Trader James excitedly patted his colleague on the shoulder. "My AI portfolio is up another 7%!"

"That's right, this AI market trend is basically a money printer," another trader echoed. "I've already mortgaged my apartment and went all-in on AI stocks. I'm counting on this to achieve financial freedom for the rest of my life!"

What they didn't know was that in the cloud-level conference rooms a hundred meters above, those who truly held the pulse of the market were making the exact opposite decision.