Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 345 Life is short, so let's fight for it!

"Mr. Lin, this is just too incredible."

how did you do it? "

After Lin Ran's demonstration, Tencent's executives took turns trying it out, and the capabilities they demonstrated were even more impressive than their most optimistic estimates.

So impressive, they even suspected that an entire team was providing the answers in the background.

GPT is very powerful, but its performance is more effective in English contexts. In Chinese contexts, GPT's performance has its limitations.

The main problem is that the answers lack soul. It's like they first translate your question into English, then answer it internally in English, and finally translate it back into Chinese for output.

This results in the user experience of GPT being completely different when conversing in English versus in Chinese.

Originally, the most optimistic estimate from Tencent's executives was that your Chinese user experience would be similar to that of GPT.

After all, it's only been a little over two months. GPT1 and 2 were open sourced, but 3 wasn't, so you can't use other people's open source methods to train it.

Moreover, even just the Chinese translation of GPT would be enough for Tencent, since GPT can't enter China, and their artificial intelligence doesn't expect to go to the US.

Just like in the past, the Simplified Chinese internet is one world, and the external internet is another.

But its behavior was as if it had a soul.

In particular, he demonstrated an extraordinary level of literacy in Chinese literature.

It's much more powerful than GPT-3.

When the executives disappeared, leaving only Lin Ran and Pony, Pony could not hide his excitement.

How could he not know what this meant for Tencent?

This means that among the three BAT companies, B is about to be removed from the list.

Lin Ran said, "Pony, the technical route is readily available, the resumes of GPT R&D personnel are public, their published papers are public, and the past GPT-1 and GPT-2 are open source."

In fact, by looking at these things, we can understand how they did it.

What methods were used, what areas of knowledge were involved, and how was the overall architecture designed?

With the available information, this is self-evident.

Lin Ran wore an old-fashioned gray cashmere sweater, a faint smile on his face, as if this deep red color, which was even more powerful than GPT-3, was insignificant.

Pony was extremely impressed, but it's easier said than done.

He was certain that no one else could achieve the same results in just over two months, even if they poached OpenAI's chief scientist.

Whether it's called Crimson or Alpha, it doesn't matter.

If you can pull this off, even if you want to name it Deep Blue, I'll just applaud and say it's a great name.

As for whether the deep red color will trigger public opinion on foreign websites, or whether the red tide is about to make a comeback, that's not important.

Pony Ma didn't believe that China's artificial intelligence could compete with America's dominant Western countries.

"Mr. Lin, so I'm planning to hold a press conference in March?"
"Tencent is mobilizing the entire group to fully promote this product," Pony said excitedly.

Timing is crucial.

At this point in time, Tencent's market value in Hong Kong has been declining.

从2021年2月峰值时候每股超700港币，一路到去年11月，每股最低还不到200港币。

It wasn't cut in half at the waist; it was cut down to the ankle.

The cuts were so severe that Tencent was even forced to spend its own money on stock buybacks.

There are various reasons behind this, but the most fundamental one is that Tencent has lost its imagination.

What does the capital market rely on? It relies on imagination.

Whether Nvidia is worth four trillion dollars, whether the path of AGI can truly lead to general artificial intelligence, and whether Nvidia is truly indispensable in this process, are all unknowns.

But the key point is that if the capital market believes you are capable, your stock price can soar.

When your market capitalization is one trillion, some people are already saying it's two trillion. When it rises to four trillion, the market starts saying it's eight trillion, or even ten trillion US dollars.

Tencent's fundamental problem is that it has lost its imagination, while ByteDance is seizing people's time, energy, and attention.

Tencent has lost its title as the number one in traffic.

While WeChat's position will not be shaken, its ecosystem is far less imaginative than that of short videos.

The emergence of Crimson signifies the arrival of new imagination. Tencent possesses the only artificial intelligence in China that can rival OpenAI, surpassing Google and Meta.

Pony knew very well that once such a powerful bombshell was dropped, Tencent's decline would be swept away.

Lin Ran nodded: "Pony, you can decide this."

We now need to clarify the future cooperation model for Crimson.

And potential risks.

After listening, Pony immediately understood the other person's concerns.

Even someone as successful as Jack Ma, who has remained a prominent figure in China for so many years, can still make mistakes and offend people by saying the wrong thing.

Pony has spoken in public quite often in the past, but he hasn't done this before.

Even when he occasionally oversteps his bounds, Pony manages to keep the risks within a manageable range, demonstrating his political acumen.

"You mean pressure from the White House?" Pony asked.

Lin Ran said, "That's right. After all, Tencent's business spans the globe, and AGI is a lifeline for America."

The fact that a Chinese company launched an AI that was more advanced than GPT just two months later is unacceptable to the White House.

They will do everything they can to suppress Tencent.

They can't influence me personally, nor can they influence Apollo Technology, so Tencent is destined to be the one bearing the pressure.

You need to carefully consider the risks involved.

Tencent is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which is beyond the White House's reach, but Tencent has a few businesses and many investments in America, and these could potentially be affected.

Pony stated unequivocally, "When faced with a large model, those are things that can be discarded."

Besides, America can't just confiscate it outright. Even if she uses security as a reason to forbid our investment, she'll still give us time to exit.

Pony sees it clearly: at this point in time, these are all trivial details.

Lin Ran continued, "And then there's safety, specifically personal safety."

Pony asked, "You mean my children? They're all in China. I'll remind them not to run around unnecessarily, and if they need to go abroad, I'll ask someone else to help them."

Lin Ran nodded: "It's not just you, but other Tencent executives as well. This needs to be emphasized."

Although this is an extreme case, America might resort to desperate measures.

My mentor was imprisoned along with me during the Apollo moon landing, so the connection between us is extremely weak.

Therefore, these risks need to be prevented in advance.

Pony sighed, “What a terrible era. Our generation grew up watching America movies, accepting America as a beacon, and using America software.”

Seeing America fall to this state, unable to win through conventional competition, they resorted to all sorts of unconventional methods.

Mr. Lin, I understand what you mean. I will definitely take this matter seriously.

After all, this concerns personal safety.

Lin Ran said, "Pony, you don't need to worry too much."

Personally, I think America definitely can't go in the short term; we can only entrust a professional manager to handle it.

However, if you can fully communicate with international lawyers to ensure there are no weaknesses that can be exploited, then it is still possible to go to other European and American countries.

After all, America needed at least one reason.

Pony smiled wryly and said, "Do they really need a reason?"

Just like you said, I also saw the news about your Indian mentor. He's nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead. When asked, he's said to be under federal investigation.

As for where he should be investigated, why his lawyer can't meet with him, has America given a direct answer?
These people are of Indian descent, but we are Chinese.

Hearing this, Lin Ran also let out a long sigh.

Because what Pony said makes sense.

"Mr. Lin, as for the specific cooperation method, my idea is, do you think Tencent should acquire Crimson in one go?"
I'm willing to offer $50 billion to acquire all of your shares.

Five hundred billion is undoubtedly a huge sum, and that's roughly the amount of cash Tencent currently holds.

But that's not an exaggeration.

OpenAI is valued at 50 billion, which is not considered high compared to its counterpart, DeepRed.

Especially since it is wholly owned.

Lin Ran asked, "Pony, are you sure that without me, Crimson can keep up with GPT's progress?"
A one-off acquisition is a one-off deal.

Pony said, "Of course I'm not confident, so after the full acquisition, you will still be the chief technology officer, and I will offer you an unusually high annual salary."

Lin Ran waved his hand: "Let's forget about a full acquisition. Let's have DeepRed sign a deep exclusive licensing agreement with Tencent. DeepRed will be the underlying model, and Tencent will act as the entry point for the front end."

I plan to raise $50 billion in cash from the market and invest $10 billion in Tencent. We need to cooperate fully with Huawei.

Based on our needs, we will develop an AI computing card.

This portion of the money will mainly be used for breakthroughs in hardware to build our competitive advantage.

Huawei's current Ascend processors are clearly insufficient. Our algorithmic advantages will compensate for our computing power disadvantages, and we will be able to catch up with OpenAI within two years.

However, looking at it over a longer timeframe, the other side will also improve their algorithms, our engineers will be poached, and our algorithms cannot be kept secret forever. So ultimately, it comes down to a competition of internal strength.

We need to spend a significant amount of money collaborating with Huawei to develop a dedicated deep-red computing cluster tailored to our specific needs.

Pony understands politics, but Lin Ran understands it even better.

In the current climate, it's impossible for you to give all your investment to Tencent; it's just you and Tencent.

After thinking for a moment, Pony said, "Okay, Mr. Lin, if it's $50 billion that Tencent has to come up with all at once, I might have to grit my teeth and transfer it to your account in quarterly installments. But if it's just $10 billion, Tencent's money can be in my account anytime."

Money is just a number; money sitting in an account is meant to be used.

However, a single transaction of $50 billion would also put pressure on Tencent. After all, having so much cash doesn't mean you have to use it all at once.

At this point in time, Tencent's cash and cash equivalents totaled approximately 50 billion yuan.

Pony Ma also strongly agreed with Lin Ran's plan to invest in and collaborate with Huawei on computing cards: "In the past two months, because of LLM, not to mention Nvidia's computing cards, even Huawei's Ascend has started to be in short supply."

Apollo Technology secured most of Huawei's Ascend production capacity in advance, resulting in a severe shortage of Huawei's Ascend shipments. Compared to our original order price, the current price has increased by more than 50%.

All major companies are building AI computing infrastructure.

We absolutely need to do this.

Pony even felt that Apollo Technology was too lucky to have secured Huawei's production capacity in advance.

Lin Ran continued, "I only need control of Alpha. I need to ensure that the entire technology roadmap and subsequent developments are in accordance with my vision. I need voting rights."

Therefore, I will adopt an AB share structure in the design of voting rights.

Crimson is exclusively licensed to Tencent, and Tencent is responsible for its operation.

Prior to this, Alpha Technology's shareholding structure was as follows: Lin Ran held 70% of the shares, and Tencent held 30%. The computing power and manpower that Tencent allocated in the early stages were the costs.

Now, they need to raise another 500 billion yuan from the market, which will dilute Lin Ran's shares. In this situation, they can only ensure control by using AB shares, which are different voting rights for the same shares.

Pony wasn't conflicted. "I agree in principle, but I need to go back and attend the board meeting first."

However, with Crimson in charge, I think it won't be difficult to convince the board members.

As for other state-owned assets, I believe it's not a problem for them either. What state-owned assets lack are projects with potential, not money.

Besides, you're cooperating with Huawei, which requires RMB. For state-owned assets, RMB is something they don't even blink at.

After witnessing the Crimson firsthand, the pressure from GPT vanished instantly.

Pony felt fortunate; he was incredibly lucky. From the PC era to the mobile internet era, and now to the artificial intelligence era, Tencent has always managed to secure a place on the journey.

After witnessing the Crimson Miracle in just two months, Pony doesn't believe any domestic manufacturer can catch up with them in the GPT field.

“Mr. Lin, there’s another point: how do we clarify the specific fees?” Pony continued, “I think it’s more direct for the two of us to discuss this directly than for the people below us to do it.”

Tencent cannot use Shenhong's services indefinitely without cost, and Shenhong cannot use Tencent Cloud's infrastructure unconditionally indefinitely.

Since we are two separate companies, we eventually need to separate.

Lin Ran said, "Pony, this is too detailed. It's a business issue. We'll clarify these things after the company's framework is in place."

Therefore, Tencent may need to send a professional manager to Shenhong in the early stages.

The first thing he did after arriving was to rename Alpha Technologies to Crimson Technologies.

Pony was genuinely curious: "Mr. Lin, I feel you're particularly fixated on the name Crimson. Why is that? Is there anything special about it?"
If it's inconvenient, you don't have to say.

Lin Ran thought to himself, the real reason was certainly inconvenient, but on the surface there was nothing inconvenient: "Pony, it's like this, I was thinking that IBM is the blue giant, and their first chess set was called Deep Blue, right?"

So I thought, our name is Deep Red, and the name Deep Red really fits the characteristics of China.

Pony laughed: "Compared to Alfa, the deep red color definitely has a much stronger Chinese character."

He then asked, "Lin Sheng, you're a professional. Do you think an LLM can really lead to AGI?"

Lin Ran thought for a moment, his gaze passing over Pony and looking out the window. The falling rain and snow reminded him of the season. He said, "I believe that before there is a revolutionary breakthrough in hardware, there is an insurmountable wall between LLM and the general artificial intelligence that OpenAI promotes."

LLM is like a super librarian; it remembers and combines patterns from countless books, and can quickly piece together the answer for you.

It doesn't truly understand; it just works based on statistical probability.

For example, if you ask it a question about history, it may answer fluently and logically, but if there are errors in the data, it is prone to talking nonsense and creating illusions.

AGI: This is the "all-powerful AI" in science fiction, capable of autonomously learning new skills, reasoning about unknown problems, and even inventing things, just like a human.

It is not limited to text and can handle all real-world challenges, such as driving, conducting experiments, or emotional interactions.

My personal understanding of LLM is that its limit is to be a super useful assistant, a search engine, that can help people improve efficiency, but it can never replace people.

I even believe that the constraints limiting the transition from LLM to AGI are not only at the algorithm level, but also at the hardware level. With the current architecture, it is unrealistic to achieve AGI in the short term.

Although the number of transistors can be on the same order of magnitude as the number of neurons in the human brain, transistors only have two states, 0 and 1, while neurons can connect tens of thousands of synapses, with the total number of synapses ranging from 10 to the power of 14 to 10 to the power of 15.

I think this is the more fundamental reason why artificial intelligence based on silicon chips cannot produce intelligent models.

Once the bosses were chosen, it was the turn of the farmhands to work.

Zhao Songxia's WeChat account kept buzzing with notifications.

First, in the company group chat, the team leader sent a message tagging everyone:
"This campaign has come to a successful conclusion. Not everyone who has applied to stay at Alpha Technology will be able to stay. There are probably only 300 positions available, and I'm not even sure if I'll be one of them."

Then there are small groups, all sorts of small groups, where everyone is discussing this.

"OpenAI only has about a hundred people. A company like this really doesn't need that many people. In the past two months, everyone's workload has not been very heavy."

"I regret it. I regret not being able to leave a deep impression on General Manager Lin. I haven't given a single work report in the past two months."

"President Lin is rarely in his office, and you can count the number of times he's come in on two hands. Even if you want to report to him, you have to find him first."

"Yeah, and besides, what are we data processors supposed to report? Unless we have some innovative methods, but even then you have to report to your supervisor first, and they'll just snatch it away for you."

After all, as long as you have an idea, Mr. Lin can work it out for you; he won't give you the chance to hold out for a higher price.

"Are there any off-the-books tactics that can help us survive? Life offers few chances to gamble!"

"Is this considered a gamble? This is simply getting on Boss Lin's big ship. Everyone has seen the amazing lives those people in the WeChat group lived ten years ago. Now, an even more powerful ship than the WeChat group has appeared. This isn't a gamble; this is trying every possible way to get on board."

"Yes, back then, WeChat groups competed on internal strength; they could make any product. But things are different now. Can anyone else match Mr. Lin's intellect?"

Looking at the messages in the small group, Zhao Songxia found it hilarious. If there really was a solution, who would tell others?

We are all direct competitors.

Of the two thousand people, at most only three hundred will be able to stay.

These two thousand people were already carefully selected and fought their way through when they were able to get into Tencent as AI algorithm engineers; now, it's the best of the best.

No one can guarantee that they will be able to stay.

Zhao Songxia knew that he had to resort to underhanded tactics at this point. It's true that life offers few opportunities to gamble, but not to gamble on boarding the ship, but to gamble on the chance to board it.

"Hey, Xu Xian, are you there?" Zhao Songxia dialed Xu Xian's number after returning home.

This was his only connection, the only connection he could directly make with Lin Ran.

There used to be a so-called six-grid world theory, which means that you can connect with anyone in the world through six people.

Zhao Songxia was glad that his undergraduate experience in the Department of Mathematics at Yenching University could come in handy again.

This resume was what got me a job as an algorithm engineer at Tencent back then.

When I was looking for a job in 18, the working environment wasn't this bad. I had only learned some knowledge about artificial intelligence and algorithms, and I got into Tencent because of the prestigious reputation of the Mathematics Department of Peking University.

Now he'll have to rely on this experience again.

"Matsushita-kun, what's up? Did Ran-ge put you in a difficult position? Do you want me to put in a good word for you?" Seohyun answered the phone without any hesitation.

Xu Xian is Xu Xian's nickname, and Songxia-kun is Zhao Songxia's nickname, implying that he is Japanese.

After all, the Japanese like to use place names when naming their children. There's an old joke on the simplified Chinese internet that Japanese people name their children after the place they live in.

Things like "mountain," "tanaka," "kawaguchi," and "murakami."

Zhao Songxia's name sounds very neon-like, so they like to add "Jun" to the end.

Xu Xian and Zhao Songxia were roommates during their undergraduate years. Later, Xu Xian pursued a doctorate while Zhao Songxia went to Tencent. The two would often chat and had a good relationship.

After Xu Xianfa and Lin Ran had dinner and took a photo together, Zhao Songxia realized that his college roommate actually had such connections and was actually a high school classmate of Ran Shen.

He also followed suit in the comments section of that post on WeChat Moments at the time:
"God of Burning, take me flying!"

Later, Zhao Songxia was transferred to Shenhai on a business trip and worked under Lin Ran. He also secretly took pictures of Lin Ran and sent them to Xu Xian, sharing his feelings about working under Lin Ran.

That's why Seohyun asked that question.

"Of course not. There's at least an 800-level difference between President Lin and me. How could he possibly make things difficult for me?"

That's right, the campaign is over, and I want to stay and work by General Lin's side.

"Could you do me a favor and pass a message to General Manager Lin?" Having worked in the corporate world for so many years, Zhao Songxia spoke without the slightest embarrassment.

Relationships should be used when necessary.

Being able to stay through connections takes skill.

"Huh? Working at Tencent is much more promising than working alongside Ran Ge. No matter how great Ran Ge is, he's still an aerospace company, and he's doing aerospace-related business."

The salary cap is very low. Were you captivated by Ran Ge's personal charm?

"Personal charm can't put food on the table," Seohyun joked.

Zhao Songxia complained, "No, this company is a new company established by President Lin and Boss Ma. It mainly focuses on the research and development of artificial intelligence, aiming to rival OpenAI. It's very impressive, and its current achievements are no worse than GPT."

(End of this chapter)