What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 455 Lobbying
Baidu and Silicon Carbon Data have sparked a talent war, and it's difficult for outsiders to know the gains and losses for either side.

Logically speaking, the former is a giant, a listed company many times larger, and should have a great advantage. However, there are rumors that Li Yanhong, the head of Baidu, is very angry recently.

Soon, a move by Baidu seemed to confirm this.

Li Mingyuan, Baidu's youngest vice president and also known as the "Crown Prince of Baidu," has taken on the additional role of overseeing "Baidu News," indicating that Baidu will be investing more resources in this area.

Who does Baidu News benchmark itself against?
This is naturally the latest hot topic in carbon and silicon data.

Both products are news aggregation apps. Baidu News actually came out earlier, with this business starting at the end of 2011, but it has never been valued and is considered an early mover for the mobile platform. As for "Latest Hot Topics," as Carbon Silicon Data's flagship product, the significance of it being targeted now is self-evident.

However, coincidentally, after Yu Xing took the initiative to talk about the development of silicon carbon data, products in this area really received attention.

Advertising revenue is almost a mandatory course for internet companies. Sohu, Sina, NetEase, Tencent and other websites have been exploring business paths one after another and have long determined its upper limit. Now, it has suddenly been connected by carbon silicon data. Former Sohu vice president Chu Qi has also proved the truth of the situation with his own company transformation, which is indeed worth studying.

Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang commented on the matter a few days later, further validating the feasibility of putting new wine in old bottles.

He released the interview video on his own Sohu Video platform.

"Sohu did a lot of things to make a profit back then, from advertising to games, search engines, input methods, browsers, online video, e-commerce, and almost tried every trend after the portal era."

“I called Yu Xing to ask about this. First of all, it is indeed true. Carbon Silicon Data Company made a profit last year, but it has not been announced. We had heard before that the ‘Latest Hot Topic’ advertisement was very effective, but we did not expect it to improve the business so much. Secondly, he said it was a technology-driven effect.”

"The specifics of how this technology is implemented are unclear, but the desired effect is roughly the same, just like Taobao's 'personalized recommendations,' which allows everyone to see the content they want, with advertisements interspersed in between."

"This is quite a big deal."

"So it's no wonder that Carbon Silicon Data has broken ties with Baidu this time. Since it's technology-driven, it definitely needs technical talent."

Survivors from the portal era gave a thumbs up with a touch of emotion.

After reposting a review from Sohu, Baixiaosheng Forum concluded: "A true Great Sage has emerged from Little Western Paradise."

However, it's not just Baidu News; Tencent News, Sohu News, and even UC have all started to make adjustments. If they want to develop in this area, now that the direction has been determined, it's just a matter of how much investment is needed, which is relatively easy.

The competitive pressure faced by silicon carbon data has changed. Zhong Zhiling summarized these things and talked to his senior brother about them separately. They also talked about another matter.

"MusVid definitely needs to keep a low profile. The carbon and silicon data haven't even been released yet, and the competition is already starting."

Yu Xing understands this matter very well: "Because this matter is not simple, it's not just a matter of one or two things. The era of mobile internet has arrived. Everyone knows that the scale of smartphones will continue to grow, and people carry their phones with them all the time, unlike PCs. This kind of scale increase is predictable. Once the carbon silicon data is released, the interests involved will have to be adjusted to a different scale."

Everyone is familiar with advertising and thinks they can do it themselves. They probably don't think the latest trending topics are anything special, so they naturally want to share the pie.

This is a judgment on the interests of the entire market.

For the same reason, Carbon Silicon Data’s financing went very smoothly without any obstacles. Moreover, not only IDG, but also well-known venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management made rapid contact, but were unable to participate.

This time, it's only open to those with tickets.

Yu Xing discussed the competition in silicon carbon data for a while, and the basic business model was determined. Regarding the next steps in operations, he respected the opinions of Zhong Zhiling and others.

"By the way, Yu Kai is leaving Baidu. He will come to Lingang again tomorrow. However, this time he will not only talk about his startup, but also wants to talk to Carbon Silicon Data about deep learning. You can invite President Zhai and President Yang to attend as well."

He thought for a moment, then added, "Xiaoying can come and listen when she has time."

"That deep learning thing from Baidu?" Zhong Zhiling sensed his senior's attitude and asked, "Does Xing-ge think deep learning has a bright future?"

Yu Xing had many reasons and options in mind, but in the end he simply gave an affirmative answer: "Yes, it has great potential."

Baidu has a very good eye for opportunity.

The following afternoon, Yu Kai, who had not yet completely left Baidu, arrived at the Carbon Silicon Data Company in Lingang and met with a group of core decision-makers including Yu Xing, Zhong Zhiling, Zhai Yifei, Yang Zhenyuan, Lü Haiying, and Ge Zhijie.

He was surprised at first, not expecting the carbon silicon data to be so formal.

Sitting in the conference room, Yu Kai hesitated for a long time before deciding to state his position: "President Yu, I will not join Carbon Silicon Data Company. You know I'm planning to start my own business."

Judging from this setup, he felt that the silicon carbon data company was trying to impress him.

Yu Xing laughed and said, "I know you want to start a business. I just think that since companies like Google, Microsoft, and Baidu attach so much importance to deep learning, we should also attach importance to silicon carbon data. So I called someone over to listen to Dr. Yu's presentation."

Yu Kai nodded, thinking that the term "propaganda" was a good description, or rather, he came here with a persuasive intent.

This real "Dr. Yu" took a couple of sips of tea and, without much formality, began to talk about the changes in the niche yet cutting-edge field of deep learning. He started by mentioning his participation in the Baidu auction and explained the attitude of large companies towards deep learning.

Yu Kai was invited back to China. Before joining Baidu, he was a distinguished Chinese scholar of artificial intelligence in the United States, and he also taught courses on "machine learning" at Tsinghua University and the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence are relatively niche fields.

Within a few months of Yu Kai joining Baidu, he secretly represented Baidu in an auction for a company founded by renowned scientist Jeffrey Hinton. Among the other three competitors, Microsoft and Google were known, while the background of another company was unclear.

The starting bid was $100 million. Yu Kai's maximum authorized funding from Baidu was $2400 million, but the bid reached $4400 million. Jeffrey ended the auction and chose to join Google.

After hearing a short story, Zhong Zhiling raised his hand to express his slight doubt: "Dr. Yu, I just looked up Jeffrey Hinton's achievements and I roughly understand your emphasis on him. However, one minute it's machine learning, the next it's deep learning. Isn't there a difference?"

Yu Kai didn't mind such an uninformed question. Besides his role as a researcher, he also frequently interacted with businesses and had explained many basic things on Baidu.

"Mr. Zhong, so you're saying that there are two schools of thought in machine learning: Shallow Learning and Deep Learning. Shallow Learning used to be the mainstream and the most popular field, while Deep Learning was a minority area. But the situation has changed in recent years." "When I first arrived in the United States, there were only about five professional institutions worldwide researching Deep Learning. NEC Lab, where I was working at the time, was one of them. That's when I met Hinton."

“NEC Lab is one of the strongest artificial intelligence labs in Silicon Valley. It was built to this point by me, Gong Yihong, Lin Yuanqing and I. Now there are many Chinese people, especially those who go to prestigious American universities for internships.”

"So, Mr. Zhong, you see, sometimes in this world, it's the minority who have the most accurate perspective."

Yu Kai mentioned his academic background, and although he was describing it to Zhong Zhiling, he didn't forget to glance at Yu Xing, who was listening quietly.

He didn't know this kind of lobbying in his early years, but after interacting with more companies, he realized that it was still necessary to demonstrate ability and qualifications.

Zhong Zhiling understood: Dr. Yu was a big shot, and a bigger one than he had imagined.

He was just a vice president of a research institute at Baidu, but he had a strong track record and extensive network of contacts in the international machine learning field.

Yu Kai then mentioned his network of contacts, emphasizing Andrew Ng and others whom he invited to Baidu. They are all world-leading experts in the field of machine learning, and Andrew Ng took on the role of "Chief Scientist" as soon as he joined Baidu.

It has been confirmed that Andrew Ng will succeed Kai Yu as the next head of Baidu Deep Academy.

Regarding Andrew Ng's significance, his joining Baidu was even predicted by MIT Technology Review, which believes that "Baidu will lead an era of innovative software technology and a better understanding of the world."

After Yu Kai finished recounting this, looking at the unexpected lineup in front of him, he hesitated for a few seconds before offering his thoughts: "However, I'm starting to regret it now, Mr. Yu. Machine learning has great potential. What I mentioned earlier was that I hoped you would pay attention to it. If possible, we could also establish a deep learning research institute, and perhaps we could further introduce globally renowned experts."

"If given the opportunity and the necessary foundation, many people would be willing to return to China to conduct research in this area."

In the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence, Chinese people are among the most outstanding.

Everyone in the conference room understood the purpose of Yu Kai's visit.

Yu Xing hadn't expected that Yu Kai's words last time were quite serious. It wasn't just a sigh; now he genuinely wanted to encourage him to create a new Deep Academy.

He pondered deeply.

Yang Zhenyuan then asked, "Dr. Yu, which experts can you invite back?"

“These are things that need to be discussed one by one, and I can’t say right now,” Yu Kai explained. “Take Andrew Ng for example. I met him in the United States. He was working on online education there. I did what Steve Jobs did with that guy at Pepsi: ‘Are you going to keep selling sugar water, or are you going to come and do technology that will change the world?’ That’s how I got him to come back to China.”

He said with piercing eyes, "It still comes down to this: machine learning has the potential to change the world. There's an opportunity to change the world with carbon and silicon data. Do you want to keep selling ads, or do you want to change the world?"

Yu Xing didn't speak, and the meeting room was silent.

Yu Kai waited a moment, then realized that the same trick he used to fool Andrew Ng might not work here, so he changed his approach: "Machine learning research can help you sell ads better! You might become the number one ad seller in China!"

Lü Haiying couldn't help but laugh and asked a question: "Dr. Yu, I wonder if you would mind revealing what level of salary Andrew Ng received at Baidu?"

“When we came back from abroad, we didn’t ask for much more money. We were basically paid the same salary, with a base salary of $100 million,” Yu Kai said. “Others should be paid the same, not much more. It’s just that Baidu has stock options, and you can offer stock options here.”

Zhai Yifei nodded and asked, "Dr. Yu, Baidu is already developing Deep Academy, and Andrew Ng has become its chief scientist. Since that's the case, why do you need to involve us in this field as well?"

Yu Kai said succinctly, "I feel that Baidu is not very good, at least not as good as I imagined, and its budget investment is not generous enough."

He then looked at Yu Xing, who had remained silent, and asked, "Mr. Yu, what do you think?"

“Baidu is richer than us. Although Carbon Silicon Data just received funding, it will still be useful.” Yu Xing frowned slightly.

Yu Kai was quite disappointed to hear this; his persuasion had been ineffective.

“How about this, I’ll call IDG and talk to them about this, see if we can squeeze out some funding.” Yu Xing took out his phone. “I understand what Dr. Yu means. I also think highly of this field. I was originally thinking that we would have some spare capacity after further development of carbon silicon data, but Dr. Yu is here today and has relevant cutting-edge international resources, so maybe we can give it a try.”

Yu Kai's smile immediately became impossible to hide.

Zhong Zhiling, Zhai Yifei, and the others exchanged glances, regarding this matter...

Lü Haiying bluntly stated, "I originally thought that today my senior brother would be sitting with us to listen to Dr. Yu's views, but I didn't expect that it's my senior brother and Dr. Yu who are together..."

Yu Xing gave him a look, and just as he was about to speak, the call connected.

He got up and strolled out of the conference room to explain the situation.

After a long while, Yu Xing returned to his seat and shook his head, saying, "IDG, Today Capital, and Qiming Venture Partners all disagree with investing in this direction. The reason is similar to what you said before, Dr. Yu: it's a direction that's difficult to quantify and has no expected timeline, so it's hard to say that it's positive for the development of silicon carbon data."

Yu Kai frowned.

“But they are clearly the majority who haven’t grasped the truth,” Yu Xing defined. “However, the use of these funds does need to be discussed with them. Carbon Silicon Data will be raising a large sum next year.”

He paused, then continued, "How about this, Dr. Yu, we can invest in silicon carbon first, and then we'll set up a framework, a company where the experts have equity. Whether it's fundraising or fraud, I'll help you raise the money. What do you think?"

“This company, or rather the laboratory, can share resources with Silicon Carbon Data, but Silicon Carbon Data has the right to veto one thing: it cannot sell to companies like Alibaba or Tencent. I have the right of first refusal to purchase the equity.”

When Yu Kai visited Hong Kong last time, he mentioned a current situation: one of the challenges for large companies is that they must tolerate and accept a group of the brightest minds doing work that is difficult to quantify and whose ROI is hard to calculate.

Clearly, IDG and Capital Today are also struggling to meet this challenge, and the reasons they give are quite realistic.

Yu Xing was able to understand each other's positions, but also found comparable solutions in a timely manner, such as an architecture similar to OpenAI, which was worth trying.

(End of this chapter)