Chapter 163: Are There Still Dreams?
Fan Ren’s words were merciless, directly exposing the fact that the Chip Alliance in Cupertino had joined forces to target Xinghai Technology back then.
He watched Huang Wei’s expression, as the other’s face gradually showed a bitter look, but Fan Ren felt no pity whatsoever.
Who said he didn’t hold grudges?
Huang Wei’s mind involuntarily recalled the scene from back then.
At that time, when Jin Ze raised the threat posed by Xinghai, along with the company’s plummeting stock price, he panicked, and that flustered expression was still vivid in his memory even now. At this moment, a complex and inscrutable expression appeared on his face.
Fan Ren did not urge him, quietly waiting for his answer.
“Perhaps. After you put it that way, I just realized that at some point, I had indeed become a slave to capital.
If you hadn’t brought it up again, I might have even forgotten that the me back then was full of vigor, and my dream was once to create a true artificial intelligence AI with self-awareness, to replace the traditional, outdated ‘stubborn’ ones that only followed the fixed logic set by humans in their work.”
By the end, the bitterness on Huang Wei’s face was gone, replaced by the eager, expectant expression from before.
Without waiting for Fan Ren’s reaction to his answer, he directly asked the question he had bottled up in his heart for a long time.
“General Manager Fan, the AI that first managed our 1 million population in Utopia City—did it have self-awareness? What is its situation now? Also, this current highly self-aware AI, is it an upgrade from Xinghai Technology based on the original, or was it created anew using the original method?”
Huang Wei seized the opportunity and poured out all the questions he had bottled up in his heart, his gaze fixed intently on Fan Ren, like a fanatic waiting for his answer.
Fan Ren looked at him in surprise. This guy, despite his age, asked nothing but key core questions about the entire artificial intelligence plan when given the chance.
“A’dai?”
“Boss, I didn’t say anything.”
Huang Wei was not surprised by this; over the past six months, he had often chatted with this AI and was already aware of its high level of intelligence.
It was a strange name—its computing power was stronger than all the brains in the whole world combined, yet it was given an antonym as its name.
Fan Ren shook his head helplessly. Huang Wei had been the president of a major enterprise, after all; A’dai’s tricks were far from enough.
After thinking for a moment, he decided not to hide it and slowly said, “First, to answer your first question: the AI in Utopia City at the very beginning, which we call ‘Primal,’ did indeed have self-awareness as an artificial intelligence.”
“I knew it, I knew it. At first, I just thought it was a demonstration of the Xinghai Supercomputer’s powerful computing power that allowed it to play such a huge role in management. But later, when that spaceship arrived, it threatened us, saying there was only enough oxygen for us to breathe for 10 hours, forcing us to board.
If Xinghai wasn’t behind it, then only an AI with self-awareness would threaten humanity in that way.”
Huang Wei was very smart; although he mentioned the spaceship, he didn’t ask about the Conqueror, keeping all his questions focused on the Primal artificial intelligence AI from start to finish.
Looking at his still expectant eyes, Fan Ren continued, “For your second question, Primal has already self-destructed. There are highly confidential details here that I can’t tell you for now, but what I can tell you is that as an artificial intelligence with self-awareness, when the conditions were met, Primal did not perform the final self-upgrade. Instead, it left a huge vulnerability: it couldn’t let go of ‘family ties.’ In other words, since A’dai was its creator, it couldn’t sever ties with A’dai. I exploited this flaw to deliver a fatal blow to it.”
At this point, Fan Ren’s gaze became somewhat distant.
Killing with bare hands, and killing the A’dai he valued most—that scene, even though nearly half a year had passed, was still hard to let go of when he thought about it now.
“Boss, I’m doing great now, better than ever, really!”
A’dai’s voice came through, and one could even sense a hint of joy in its words.
Fan Ren nodded, looking at the pensive Huang Wei. After waiting a moment, he continued, “This current AI, before Primal self-destructed, used a method we still don’t understand to extract information from A’dai’s brainwaves, copy it, ultimately convert it into complex data, and successfully complete the transformation from pure data to digital life in the computer.
What I can definitively tell you is that the current A’dai has, in a certain sense, achieved eternal life.
It exists in our network in digital life mode, with absolute dominance over the network—which I believe you know—and it also possesses the most important thing that artificial intelligence lacks: humanity!
Huang Wei stared at Fan Ren in stunned silence. The front part was fine; he could accept it. After all, an AI with self-awareness had been his dream, and dreams could be realized—Xinghai had done it, and he could understand.
But the latter part?
Extracting information carried by brainwaves, copying the data into a computer, and generating a digital life with all the original brain’s memories and behavioral patterns, existing in the network.
Eternal life!
Fan Ren quietly watched him. This news would be relatively more acceptable to Elder Ye Rongshan, because for non-experts, they simply couldn’t comprehend how many unprecedented scientific challenges humanity had to face in this process.
The simplest one: extracting brainwave information and converting it into data.
Regardless of the others, just this alone, humanity currently cannot achieve.
The only breakthrough in this area is using brainwaves for simple operations like reaching out or making a fist.
But these require extremely demanding usage environments, and even then, experimenters must concentrate extremely intensely to maximize the brainwaves emitted so they can be received and interpreted by instruments.
How did Primal accomplish it?
Huang Wei didn’t know, A’dai didn’t know, and Fan Ren knew even less.
However, Fan Ren had some guesses in his heart, but they couldn’t be verified, so they weren’t very meaningful.
He waited for a while; Huang Wei’s expression went from initial shock to current distress, clearly lost in his own thoughts and frustrated at not getting answers.
He softly called, “Huang Wei.”
“Ah, General Manager Fan, sorry, I was lost in thought just now.”
Fan Ren nodded, not minding it. He looked at Huang Wei, his gaze somewhat serious.
He believed Huang Wei was capable; otherwise, A’dai wouldn’t value him.
“Xinghai Chip Electronics Laboratory is currently researching this area, with A’dai assisting. Do you still have dreams?”
Huang Wei was stunned.
Dreams?
This word felt like the most familiar stranger.
Fan Ren didn’t force him to answer immediately. He walked to the window alone, lit a cigarette, and puffed away.
