Black technology: a super empire spanning two worlds

Chapter 87 [Pricing Strategy]

After this little episode, Yun Shu, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but think to himself, "We charge a high price for AI Xiaojing. If other peers launch similar AI products for free, will this create greater competitive pressure on AI Xiaojing in the future?"

Xiao Yu laughed and said, "I'm not being arrogant. Even if our peers, including Open-AI from abroad, were given ten years to catch up, they still wouldn't be able to catch up with AI Xiaojing. How could we stand still in the next ten years? How dare I charge like that if I don't have the strength? The product is not cheap, but it's worth it. The key is that there is no similar product that can replace it."

With the support of the entire Blue Planet's AI technology system behind him, Xiao Yu is not worried at all that any of his peers on Earth will be able to surpass him in terms of AI technology. This is the source of his greatest confidence and strength.

Seeing how confident he was, Yun Shu asked directly, "Okay, so how do you plan to price the AI Mirror Enterprise Edition?"

Hearing this, Xiao Yu thought for a moment: "It can't be cheaper than those enterprise edition software sold abroad, and it has to be sold at a higher price than abroad."

There is currently no other product that can replace AI Xiaojing. For enterprise-level customers, as long as the benefits it brings are higher than the cost of purchasing the product, they will buy it no matter how expensive it is. If the benefits it brings cannot even cover the costs, the company will not buy it no matter how cheap it is.

The monthly fees for many foreign enterprise software can range from several thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the software's functional modules, number of users and customization requirements.

At last, Xiao Yu said immediately: "The enterprise version will be charged at a monthly fee of 150 million RMB."

Yun Shu was also shocked when he heard the number: "So expensive? It would cost 1800 million RMB a year. Only large companies can afford such a price. Small and medium-sized enterprises can't afford such a high fee."

Xiao Yu said calmly: "Isn't there a personal version? If small and micro enterprises can't afford the price but want to use it, can they only ask their employees? Won't the employees of those companies have the power to negotiate with their bosses?"

In subsequent version updates, Xiao Yu will add a series of technologies to restrict the personal version of AI Mirror from running on the enterprise network. If enterprises want to use AI Mirror, they can only purchase the enterprise version. With the support of Blue Star Technology, this is completely easy to do technically.

Small and medium-sized enterprises cannot afford the expensive enterprise version fees. If they privately go to institutions that sell identity information to buy some identity information for real-name registration, this approach will be useless. Xiao Yu can easily plug this loophole technically.

For small and medium-sized enterprises, either they should not even think about AI Xiaojing's productivity tools, or they should start with their own employees.

But starting with the employees, you cannot just "optimize" people at will. The initiative is in the hands of the employees. As for how the employees negotiate with the boss, that is their business.

Employees can use their personal version of AI Mirror through their own personal Internet hotspot to assist themselves in their work and improve their work efficiency. Even if the boss does not give them a salary increase, at least employees can complete the work assigned by the company in a shorter time.

Even if the salary doesn't increase, time can always be saved, at least I don't have to stay up late to work overtime to catch up on work projects when I get home.

Employees can use the time saved to relax and have fun, or they can start other side jobs to create more surplus value. Moreover, this surplus value belongs to the employees themselves instead of being exploited by the boss.

Xiao Yu went on to say: "The basic functions of the personal version of AI Xiaojing are permanently free, and a monthly fee is charged for productivity tools. A single productivity tool is charged a monthly fee of 30 yuan, and the family package is charged a monthly fee of 300 yuan, which allows you to use all productivity tools of AI Xiaojing without any obstacles, including the new functional tools launched in subsequent versions. If you pay the annual fee, you can get a % discount."

There is basically no difference in functionality between the Enterprise Edition and the Personal Edition, but the prices are extremely different.

Xiao Yu added: "Oh, by the way, the monthly fee of 150 million for the enterprise version can support up to 500 devices running at the same time, and the excess will cost extra. If this item is not added, those large companies with thousands or tens of thousands of employees, if they have thousands or tens of thousands of devices running at the same time, and I still only charge them 150 million per month, I will lose a lot of money, which is of course not possible." In other words, if there is a large enterprise group with 5000 people or needs to support 5000 devices running AI Xiaojing at the same time, then the company's monthly expenses in this area will not be 150 million, but 1500 million, which means an annual fee of 1.8 million.

Yun Shu beside him couldn't help but say, "Once your decision is announced, I think those corporate customers may hope that a substitute product can be released on the market as soon as possible, even more than the competitors of AI Mirror. If there is a substitute, they may immediately replace it and not use AI Mirror..."

Xiao Yu immediately said with a smile: "Don't worry, it's not a big deal. I really like to see them being unhappy but having to pay the money to use the AI Mirror."

Of course, we have to, because Lingjing Technology’s powerful AI technology can actually improve production efficiency.

However, if Xiao Yu does not do this, it will inevitably lead to the situation that even if technological productivity improves, individual employees can create more surplus value per unit time, but they cannot share the surplus value, because capital will definitely find ways to take it all away.

The advancement of technology and productivity has led to capital exploiting workers even more harshly. Since AI can eliminate the need for humans in many scenarios, the first thing that comes to the minds of bosses is why not let AI replace humans? Then they lay off the workers, and the wages originally paid to the workers become the company's increased profits. Isn't this even more exploitative?
If it is allowed to continue, it will inevitably lead to this result.

The advancement of science and technology and productivity has not benefited the masses, but has become a weapon for exploiting all living beings. What is the difference from the Blue Star World? For Xiao Yu, who was deeply influenced by the thoughts of the great man, such a result is absolutely unacceptable to him.

Even if Xiao Yu cannot make the technological products he creates benefit everyone, at least he cannot let them become a tool to exploit people.

The launch of the enterprise version of AI Xiaojing was confirmed, and Xiao Yu subsequently posted a message on his personal Weibo:
[The advancement of science and technology should bring universal benefits. The original intention of Lingjing Technology in developing the AI ​​mirror is to allow it to assist users like a personal assistant supports executives. As a productivity tool, it can improve people's work efficiency and create more value increments per unit time.

If the emergence of the AI ​​mirror leads to unemployment, the progress of scientific and technological productivity will not only fail to benefit the public, but will become a tool for companies to exploit workers. This will undoubtedly go against our original intention. If this is inevitable, we would rather shut down the AI ​​mirror.

There is no doubt that we hope that AI Mirror can become a technology that benefits the general public, so we decided to divide AI Mirror into Enterprise Edition and Personal Edition, and charge a high fee for the Enterprise Edition. The Enterprise Edition needs to pay a high fee of 150 million yuan per month to use AI Mirror, and the personal version has a monthly fee of 300 yuan for the whole package, and you can purchase individual productivity tools in unpacked packages, and the cheapest one is only 30 yuan.

The enterprise version, with a monthly fee of 150 million yuan, can support up to 500 devices running simultaneously, while the personal version can support up to 5 devices running simultaneously. The functions of the two versions are almost the same.

The pricing strategy of setting the enterprise version much higher than the personal version is aimed at providing AI mirrors to workers as productivity tools and means of production, allowing the majority of workers to take the initiative.

Your boss will have three choices: either be willing to pay the high enterprise version fee, give up using the AI Mirror, or improve the company's efficiency through employees' own personal version of the AI Mirror, and the employees will have higher bargaining power.

In this charging model, when your boss can only choose one of three options, the third option has the lowest cost, which is also a mutually beneficial choice.

We hope to protect the basic interests of workers in this way. The increase in labor surplus value created by the advancement of scientific and technological productivity cannot be entirely appropriated by capital. Workers should also get a share, right?

Without the small mirror, I had to work overtime for 996 hours. Now that I have the small mirror, I still have to work overtime for 996 hours. Isn’t the progress of scientific and technological productivity in vain? 】

……

(Ps: I didn’t save any drafts and stayed up late, so I didn’t update on time. Sorry sorry~~)
(End of this chapter)