The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

North Fourth Ring Road, iQiyi Building.

The air in the meeting room froze.

Can anyone explain this picture?

The VP of Operations slammed the laser pointer hard against the curtain.

A red dot of light trembled over a huge gap.

That's a "user time distribution map across the entire network".

In the past, this pie chart was divided among Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu.

Social media, e-commerce, search, and long-form video operate independently.

But this month, one piece of cake is missing.

A full 15% of user time vanished into thin air.

It didn't flow to Tencent Video, nor did it flow to Youku.

That's it.

"The data department investigated for three days."

The data director wiped the sweat from his forehead, his voice hoarse.

"We tracked the activity paths of churned users; they didn't play games or watch TV series."

"They were staring blankly at a black icon."

The director switched to a different slide.

A screenshot of an app called "Weiguang Video" appeared on the screen.

And a set of despairing data comparisons.

Average daily viewing time per user on iQiyi: 48 minutes.

Average daily video viewing time per user: 72 minutes.

"72 minutes..."

The vice president felt a wave of dizziness.

This isn't just stealing jobs; it's dismantling the stove.

"What exactly did they show? Pirated movies? Pornographic videos?"

"No."

The director pulled up a screen recording.

On the screen, a girl in a tight-fitting outfit is dancing, followed by a corny joke, and then a stress-relieving video of cutting fruit.

It makes no sense.

It has absolutely no nutritional value.

You could even call it garbage.

"That's it?" The vice president laughed in exasperation. "Users are ignoring 'The Grave Robbers' Chronicles,' a series with hundreds of millions in investment, and going to read this?"

"That's the problem."

From the corner, the chief strategy officer, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.

He threw a thick analysis report on the table.

"We're selling content, they're selling 'dopamine'."

"Watching 'The Lost Tomb' requires foreplay, understanding the plot, and enduring 90 seconds of 'GG' (a character from the novel) waiting. That's 'delayed gratification'."

"But in the glimmer of light, happiness is 'instant'."

"A swipe of the finger, and the climax comes; there's no buildup, no climax, just pure sensory stimulation."

The strategist stood up and looked out the window at the gray sky.

"Everyone, admit it."

"We are fighting against human biological instincts."

"In this fast-food era, nobody wants to spend an hour stewing a pot of soup; they just want a shot of high-concentration glucose."

……

……

Microlight Technology, the heart of data.

Lin Che sat in the ergonomic chair, looking at the newly upgraded "Micro-Light Brain" visualization terminal in front of him.

On the screen, countless rays of light connect, break, and recombine.

Each line represents a user's neural synapse.

"How many generations has the algorithm evolved to?" Lin Che asked.

"V 3.0".

Wang Jian's fingers flew across the keyboard, so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

"Modern algorithms have learned to 'predict'."

"It is no longer passively recording what users see, but actively testing users' limits."

Wang Jian pulled up a typical user model.

ID: 49281, male, 35 years old, civil servant in a third-tier city.

"Look."

Wang Jian pointed to the data stream.

"The day before yesterday, the system recommended 10 military videos to him. He watched 8 of them, and the system determined that he was a 'military enthusiast'."

"But yesterday, the system deliberately included a video of 'long legs in black stockings'."

"As a result, he watched it all, and it was rebroadcast twice."

"So the algorithm immediately corrected the label."

"Reduce the weight of 'military' by 20% and increase the weight of 'beautiful women' by 50%."

"Furthermore, the system is also trying to recommend 'talk shows' and 'car repair' to him."

Lin Che looked at the user model that kept changing color.

That 35-year-old civil servant is transparent in the face of algorithms.

He thought he was selecting videos, but actually the algorithm was manipulating him.

"This is the prototype of the 'information cocoon'."

Lin Che picked up his coffee and took a sip.

"In this cocoon, users will only see what they want to see and only hear the opinions they agree with."

"If left unchecked, this will turn people into idiots."

"Should we add a 'correction mechanism'?" Wang Jian asked with some concern. "For example, by forcibly pushing some popular science or in-depth content?"

"unnecessary."

Lin Che's voice was as cold as a machine.

"That's something Zhihu should do. Or something the National Education Bureau should do."

"We are a commercial company."

Lin Che stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

The Zhongguancun area beneath my feet is bustling with traffic.

Every pedestrian is a potential "time battery".

"Wang Jian, remember one thing."

"We do not produce content."

"We're just dopamine transporters."

"Users' time is fixed; there are only 24 hours in a day. This is a zero-sum game."

"For every minute that Weiguang occupies, Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu will have one less minute."

……

……

Haidian District, Zhichun Road.

Yingdu Building.

The atmosphere here is more oppressive than at iQiyi.

Because this is Zhang Yiming's headquarters.

As the pioneer of algorithm-based recommendations and the creator of Toutiao, Zhang Yiming sensed the danger earlier than anyone else.

"That's impossible."

Zhang Yiming held a newly printed competitor analysis report in his hand.

He crumpled the paper.

"The user stickiness that Toutiao took three years to achieve, Weiguang accomplished in just three months?"

He pointed to the red arrow on the report.

That's the retention rate curve for the low-light video.

It's as smooth as a straight line.

This means that once users come in, there is almost no churn.

"Mr. Zhang..."

Product Vice President Chen Lin lowered his head and spoke very softly.

"We underestimated the power of 'full screen'."

"Toutiao's news feed still requires users to 'read' text and process information with their brains."

"But video... directly affects the optic nerve."

"This is a dimensional crushing, like a two-dimensional foil attack."

Zhang Yiming fell silent.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his dry eyes.

He spent two whole hours last night studying the faint light.

As an extremely rational and self-disciplined person, he actually wasted ten minutes on that boring "cat dancing" video.

That feeling was terrifying.

It's like the body is out of control, and the thumb has developed its own consciousness.

When he woke up, a chill ran down his spine.

This is not a product.

This is electronic drug.

"Lin Che..."

Zhang Yiming read the name aloud.

Three months ago, he only regarded Lin Che as a technical genius who understood AI.

But now, he has seen a formidable opponent.

A madman who understands human nature, understands greed, and has absolutely no moral fastidiousness.

"We missed an era."

Zhang Yiming suddenly spoke up.

There was a hint of regret in his voice.

"I've always thought that the ultimate form of an algorithm is 'distributing information'."

"But I was wrong."

"The ultimate form of an algorithm is 'killing time'."

"Snapped!"

Zhang Yiming slammed the report on the table.

The solid wood conference table made a loud bang.

The executives present were so frightened that they trembled all over.

"Weiguang is already digging our moat."

"If we don't fight back, Toutiao will become a thing of the past."

Zhang Yiming put his glasses back on.

Behind the glasses, his eyes regained that chilling calm and sharpness.

"Call everyone from the A.me project team (the code name for Douyin's predecessor) here."

There is no upper limit to the budget.

There is no upper limit on the number of personnel.

"I want to see our counterattack product online within two weeks."

He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a pen, and drew a huge red cross on the words "faint light".

"Does he want to monopolize this era?"

Zhang Yiming sneered.

"dream."