Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 391 Terrifying Influence

"Relying on hard power?"

The words echoed in Chen Hongyi's mind.

Youthful spirit is a rare and precious quality.

In the world of capital, interpersonal relationships, the weighing of interests, and unscrupulous means have long replaced the original purity.

People have become so used to using resources to blitz things and connections to pave the way that they have long forgotten the feeling of winning purely through products and technology.

Chen Hongyi sensed a sense of pride, youthful spirit, and strong self-confidence in the other person's tone.

After a long sigh, he said with a mixture of approval and helplessness, "Mr. Zhang, we have full confidence in you and will give you our utmost support."

Before coming here, I talked with Lao Fang and we agreed that Biren Technology has what Moore Threads has, and it may not be much worse than them.

Biren Technology has received investment from Tencent, and Moore Threads also has investment from Shenzhen Capital Group.

Even in Shenzhen, Tencent's investment department still gives us some face.

While Bi Ren is certainly in Shenhai, our investors also include local state-owned assets like Shenhai Guosheng.

I was thinking of having Lao Fang relay a message to the Shenhai authorities, so that Moore's Thread would also leave an impression on them.

Besides that, we actually have another trump card.

When it came to the trump card, not only Zhang Jianzhong was curious, but the other investment representatives were also curious. Why had they never heard of it?
Chen Hongyi didn't keep them in suspense and revealed his hand directly: "Our vice president and Professor Lin Taihang, the father of President Lin, are old friends of many years."

My idea is for our vice president to act as an advocate, and for Moore Threads to hire Professor Lin as a senior executive.

With Professor Lin's qualifications, he is more than qualified to be a senior executive.

Finally, Chen Hongyi concluded: "Alright, since you're going to rely on your hard skills, then we look forward to your victory speech."

Mr. Zhang, I believe you understand the consequences of failure better than we do.

We will also do our best to ensure that everyone competes in a fair environment, eliminating external factors.

After hearing this, Zhang Jianzhong felt a little regretful. If he had known he could still find Lin Ran's father, he wouldn't have refused so quickly.

However, this emotion only lasted for a moment before vanishing without a trace, replaced by a stronger belief.

"Don't worry, Mr. Chen, we will definitely be the ultimate winner!"

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat relaxed in front of the camera in the studio.

Behind him, on a large screen, was a constantly flashing diagram illustrating the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This was an impromptu interview.

The global technology community is waiting for him to interpret this disruptive concept proposed by his Chinese counterparts.

"Sam, the concept of left-right brain architecture has recently caused a great stir in the industry."

Some say this is the future of AI hardware, while others think it's just another flashy but impractical hype.

"Can you explain to us what this actually means?" the host asked bluntly.

Sam smiled slightly and leaned forward, seemingly trying to connect with the audience. Silicon Valley executives are almost all skilled speakers adept at conveying their personal philosophies, as this is a fundamental skill for attracting investment.

"This is not just a technical architecture, but also a manifestation of a philosophical concept. Our LLM model is like a powerful left brain when dealing with tasks such as logical reasoning and data analysis."

It is fast and accurate, but it begins to show its limitations when faced with tasks that require intuition, creativity and pattern recognition.

We have discovered that the human brain is powerful because of the division of labor and cooperation between the left and right hemispheres.

The left brain is responsible for logic and language, while the right brain is dominated by spatial awareness, emotions, and non-linear thinking.

Professor Lin's idea is very forward-thinking; I believe it will be a sufficiently effective solution.

He pointed to the large screen behind him: "Our collaboration with NVIDIA has made their GPUs our powerful 'left brain' chips, responsible for massive logical calculations and data processing."

But we also need a 'right brain,' a chip that can work in a completely different way.

The host pressed further, "So, what's so special about this 'right brain' chip? What's the fundamental difference between it and traditional chips? Professor Lin didn't explain it clearly in his live stream. We'd like to hear OpenAI's perspective on this."

“It mimics how the brain works, not the von Neumann architecture,” Sam explained. “It doesn’t process instructions in a step-by-step manner like a traditional chip.”

It works like a neuron, transmitting information through impulses and being activated only when needed.

This means that it can operate with extremely low energy consumption and extremely high efficiency when dealing with perception, pattern recognition, and even complex optimization problems.

“We can imagine what the future will look like,” Sam said, his eyes filled with anticipation. “The left brain is responsible for generating code and writing articles, while the right brain can instantly identify potential vulnerabilities in the code or find more creative ways to express ideas in a paper.”

Their interaction is not simply information transmission, but rather co-evolution, like two partners learning from and complementing each other.

We believe this is a very imaginative direction, and we are seeking partners to explore it.

"One last question: Intel's global CEO expressed high appreciation for Professor Lin's views, believing that a left-right brain architecture is the only way to achieve general AGI," the host said.

Sam Altman grinned. It would be strange if Intel didn't say that.

After Lin Ran proposed the left-right brain architecture, the most excited person was Intel. I've finally waited for this.

For two consecutive days, Intel's CEO first made a statement in the media, expressing absolute agreement with Lin Ran's views, and then casually mentioned that they had been researching right-brain chips for a long time.

An Intel executive tweeted: "We should rename the Loihi chip the right brain chip."

The stock price has surged for two consecutive days, with a gain of up to 30%, and it is considered to be the only true concept stock based on the left-right brain architecture.

What is influence? This is influence. A live broadcast you do in China can cause a global upheaval and give established giants like Intel a glimmer of hope to squeeze into the BIG7 of the US stock market.

Intel is not included in the BIG7 of US stocks. Since the emergence of the left-right brain architecture, Wall Street institutions have started to say that the BIG7 will become the BIG8.

"My question is, is this the only road? Are there any other routes?" the host asked.

After a moment's thought, Sam Altman said, "I don't know."

I'd also like to add that while I know Intel's Loihi chip is similar to a neuromorphic chip, I hope everyone remembers that IBM also started experimenting with neural chips quite early on, and they also have great products like TrueNorth and NorthPole.

Sam's lips curled into a slight smile; he was already laying the groundwork for the upcoming negotiations with Intel and IBM.

Globally, leading figures in fields such as artificial intelligence and chips have stepped forward to say that left-brain and right-brain chips are a great idea.

The underlying logic is that they are dissatisfied with the status quo. Everyone is digging for gold, but before they have even found any, Nvidia, which sells shovels, is making a fortune and has become the first company in the US stock market with a market value of over four trillion US dollars.

The emergence of the right-brain chip concept came at just the right time. All the tech companies in Silicon Valley hoped to cultivate another company to compete with Nvidia.

Just like Musk's XAI collaborating with Samsung to develop its own chips, it's the same principle. A monopolistic voice has too much power, seriously affecting the interests of all companies except Nvidia.

As a result, with the endorsement of industry leaders, the market value of companies in the global market that are even remotely related to right-brain chips has soared.

Cambricon's market capitalization in the A-share market has soared, tripling in just seven days.

A research report hastily released by CITIC Securities proclaimed the audacious slogan: "Trillion is just the beginning, and ten trillion is not the end."

Even the White House inauguration ceremony, which was a major online event, failed to make headlines; the news was dominated by the booming stock market.

When Xu Xian finally got a single room during his postdoctoral studies, he didn't choose to go home for New Year's Day, but stayed at Yenching University, since the Spring Festival was just around the corner and he would go back during the Spring Festival holiday.

He saw that his high school classmates' group chat had 999+ members again. When he clicked in, he discovered that one of their high school classmates, who was at the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, had been recruited by E Fund Management to become a public fund manager.

In the past few days, E Fund has been advertising heavily on Alipay, Weibo, and in elevators.

Imagine coming home after a long day, looking up and seeing an advertisement in the stairwell featuring a high school classmate you haven't seen in ages—you'd definitely be furious!

Xu Xian carefully flipped through the pages and finally understood what was going on. Everyone envied this classmate's incredible luck. His doctoral research focused on animal neuroscience, which might have a tiny connection to artificial intelligence. Then E Fund advertised him as some kind of expert, a specialist in neuromorphic chips, and also said that he and Lin Ran were high school classmates.

He became a fund manager as soon as he joined the company and started launching a fund themed around artificial intelligence, giving him a lead of at least three years over other PhDs.

Those in the classmate group who knew the inside story complained in another small group: "Just because you've used Intel's neuromorphic chip doesn't mean you're an expert. If I order a Loihi chip from Huaqiangbei today, does that make me an expert too? These financial institutions have no shame when it comes to ripping off retail investors."

"Xu Xian, you should be the one who has the best relationship with Ran Shen from high school, so how come outsiders are taking advantage of you?"

"Xu Xian, when are you taking off? When you do, take the brothers with you."

Basically, all public funds are chasing this trend, launching AI-themed funds in an attempt to grab a share of the booming market. In Apollo Technology's office, Pony sat on the sofa for receiving visitors, while Lin Ran sat in his office chair.

"Intel wants to sell Loihi chips to us? They want to form a deep partnership with us?" Lin Ran narrowed his eyes. "This is ill-intentioned."

Pony nodded and said, "That's right, that's what I think too. From any perspective, we can't choose Intel."

Lin Ran said, "Pony, leave them hanging, don't refuse them yet, let's see what kind of trouble they can cause."

Lin Ran was thinking of leaving Intel hanging, but Intel was thinking of using Crimson to negotiate with OpenAI.

Knowing that Nvidia had already set a precedent, Chinese companies would not cooperate with them, whether for reasons of confidentiality or stability.

However, Sam Altman's interviews have sent a clear signal that he wants to make them fight IBM to the death, and then bleed them dry.

Intel also needs to bring in external help, to introduce a disruptive force to muddy the waters of the negotiations.

The OpenAI negotiations took place in a penthouse suite at a high-end hotel in San Francisco, with Sam Altman and Andrew Kaplan sitting on one side of the conference table, opposite delegations from Intel and IBM.

To create a tense and confrontational atmosphere, Sam deliberately scheduled the negotiations between the two companies for the same day, only one hour apart.

The first team to enter was from Intel, led by the company's president and head of the Neuromorphic Computing division, Pat Geelsinger.

Geelsinger was a seasoned negotiator. After sitting down, he cut straight to the point without any pleasantries: "Mr. Ultraman, Mr. Kaplan, we have received your letter of intent to cooperate."

To be honest, we are very interested in collaborating with OpenAI to create a right-brain architecture, and we believe that the Loihi chip can play a key role in this architecture.

We'd like to know, what aspect of Loihi do you find appealing?

Instead of answering directly, Sam asked, "Pat, I think you know better than I do about the situation of Project Loihi within Intel. It has received huge investment, but its commercial prospects have always been unclear."

There were calls within Intel in the past to cut this project.

We offered an opportunity, a chance to turn Loihi from a failed project into a future star.

We know that Loihi performs well in perception tasks, but it lacks the ability to work in conjunction with powerful logic processors.

We can solve this problem precisely by utilizing the left-right brain structure.

Geelsinger said, "We certainly saw this opportunity, but the problem is that the left and right brain architecture was proposed by Randolph, and OpenAI didn't know how to design it specifically."

You also need to try, you need a lot of testing and trial and error, and you need time. This path is also full of uncertainties.

We are willing to provide resources for this; OpenAI needs to provide specific requirements and technical support.

Whether the terms offered in negotiations are sincere depends on the time frame.

Intel's proposal would have been sincere in the past, but now it's far from enough.

Sam shook his head, leaned back in his chair, and relaxed completely.

During negotiations, the body can send signals.

"Pat, you may not have understood what we mean."

This is not a simple technical collaboration.

We are looking for core partners for a brand new computing ecosystem.

Nvidia holds an absolute dominant position in the left-brain ecosystem, and we hope to have an equally powerful ally in the right-brain ecosystem.

We need more than just chips; we also need all of Intel's resources, talent, and computing card support.

We can help you redefine Loihi, bring it to market, and even put it on par with Nvidia.

Of course, in return, Intel needs to cover all R&D costs and provide us with substantial financial support.

Sam Ultraman has revealed his true intentions: he not only wants you to bear all the R&D costs, but also wants you to pay him.

Geelsinger frowned; this condition was far too harsh.

Just as he was about to retort, Sam's watch suddenly beeped.

Sam glanced at it, then smiled slightly and said to Geelsinger, "Sorry, Pat, the IBM team is already waiting downstairs. You can think about it first, and we'll talk later."

Geelsinger's face instantly turned ugly. Just as they had guessed, OpenAI had indeed approached IBM to negotiate a lower price.

The IBM delegation, led by Chief Scientist Dario Gill, sensed the tense atmosphere in the room as soon as he entered.

He saw the cunning in Sam Ultraman's expression, and also the confident smile on his face.

“Sam, we know you’re talking to Intel,” Dalio said bluntly, “but I want to emphasize that IBM’s TrueNorth project is more mature and forward-looking than Loihi, and our chips have a deeper foundation and a wider range of applications in the field of neuromorphic computing.”

Sam nodded, signaling Andrew Kaplan to begin the demonstration.

Andrew presented a series of PowerPoint slides detailing the grand blueprint of the "left and right brain" architecture.

When the PPT was halfway through, Sam interrupted him and looked directly at Dalio: "Dalio, we have no doubt about TrueNorth's technical capabilities."

But what we value more is who can invest more resources in this ambitious plan.

We need more than just technology; we also need funding, talent, and marketing. Whoever can fight alongside us in this new ecosystem will win this crucial right-brain position.

Dario Gill is a composed negotiator, but he is also shocked by Sam's directness and greed.

He certainly knows what OpenAI is doing; they are using Intel to pressure IBM.

He took a deep breath and said, "Sam, we are willing to provide a research and development fund of 100 million US dollars and send our best team to work with you."

Sam's face remained expressionless upon hearing the number. He took out his phone and sent a message.

Not long after, his phone rang; it was a message from Pat Geelsinger.

Sam glanced at it, then said to Dalio, "Dalio, Intel just offered $150 million in R&D funding and promised to license all their neuromorphic computing patents. What do you think IBM can offer?"

Dalio's face darkened; he hadn't expected Intel to react so quickly.

He knew this was not a simple collaboration, but a high-stakes gamble that would determine the future of the company.

His phone screen also lit up.

Dalio picked it up and looked at it: "Sorry, Sam, it seems Intel isn't willing to offer $1.5 million."

Crimson has offered better terms; I think we need to consider it further.

Deep red?

Sam Ultraman's face turned extremely ugly.

He didn't receive any information from Intel, and Intel didn't offer him a higher price. He's bluffing Dario.

His acting was excellent; he used calmness to conceal his inner turmoil.

But the sudden news disrupted all his plans.

Given the opportunity to collaborate with Crimson, who would choose OpenAI?

After all, this concept was proposed by Crimson.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Sam Ultraman thought to himself.

He said in a deep voice, "Are you trying to trick me?"

Dalio laughed heartily, the depression from being chased and beaten and forced to sign such unequal terms with IBM completely gone: "Look, Sam, you're still too naive."

Look, what is this?

In the iMessage chat, Geelsinger's profile picture appeared on the screen. He had sent a picture with Lin Ran on the left and a Chinese person on the right.

“Sam, the one on the right is Chen, a board member of Intel. It seems their talks went well,” Dalio said.

“No, they’re having a good time, what does that have to do with IBM?” Sam Altman thought through gritted teeth.

(End of this chapter)