When Yuan Jingsong saw that Li Zhou was somewhat repulsed, he did not bring up the network cable again.
"Mr. Li, I have to say, you truly are a genius. No! Genius scientist would be a more fitting description."
"Please, just call me Li Zhou. Hearing 'Mr. Li' makes me uncomfortable all over."
Li Zhou's behavior did not anger Yuan Jingsong in the slightest. A genius, a scientist—quite a few top scientists were like this.
Yuan Jingsong could get along with all the experts and academicians at the research institute. He had long grown accustomed to such things.
"Alright, Li Zhou. This time, I'm here on behalf of the country to seek cooperation. But before that, I have a few questions for you. Only after clearing up our doubts can we determine what form that cooperation should take."
Li Zhou was more than happy to answer Yuan Jingsong's questions.
"Go ahead. As long as it doesn't involve my trade secrets, ask whatever you want."
With Li Zhou's assurance, Yuan Jingsong felt much more at ease, and the atmosphere in the living room was no longer as stiff as before.
Yuan Jingsong could not wait to ask the questions the expert team had asked him to bring to Li Zhou.
"The first question is this: is the Intelligent Assistant currently on the market the final version, or is it a stripped-down version?"
This question was of utmost importance to the country. Although the higher-ups had their suspicions, only Li Zhou, the Intelligent Assistant's sole developer, knew the actual situation.
Rather than answering directly, Li Zhou asked, "Major Yuan, what do you think of the mobile version of the Intelligent Assistant?"
"After our experts tested the mobile version, they all found it unbelievable. Without a network connection, relying solely on a phone chip's computing power, the Intelligent Assistant still performed better than the Pangu Artificial Intelligence we have been secretly developing. We tried transplanting it to computers."
"But you failed, right?"
Yuan Jingsong could not help but smile bitterly. That was right—even under the leadership of academicians, they had still failed to transplant it.
"That's right. No matter what we did, we failed."
Li Zhou was not surprised in the least. After all, he had personally developed the Intelligent Assistant and placed restrictions on it. In truth, the mobile version could be installed directly on a computer. To Li Zhou, cross-platform compatibility had never been an obstacle.
If there were any other developers proficient in programming with the Han Language development language today, they would discover that the entire internet was completely undefended against the Han Language.
"Major Yuan, the Intelligent Assistant supports computers. Or rather, let me put it this way: it was designed to be cross-platform from the very beginning. Whether on a phone or a computer, it can operate normally. Of course, supercomputers are no problem either."
"As for its version, I believe you should be able to tell from the test results that I placed extensive restrictions on the Intelligent Assistant. After all, you should understand better than I do what Artificial Intelligence means when it enters the internet."
With Li Zhou's confirmation, Yuan Jingsong finally breathed a sigh of relief. While Li Zhou was still in a relatively good mood, he immediately asked the second question.
"Will the Intelligent Assistant lose control? Like in the movies, awaken and slaughter all humanity?"
Hearing Yuan Jingsong's question, Li Zhou spat out the mouthful of tea he had just taken.
"That's just movies, alright? Even taking a step back, the Intelligent Assistant cannot really be considered Artificial Intelligence. In my view, it can only be considered pseudo-Artificial Intelligence. Rebellion against humanity is simply out of the question."
"Of course, if it is not given certain restrictions, there is no ruling out the possibility that people with ulterior motives could use it to do evil. No matter how powerful it is, the Intelligent Assistant is still only a tool."
Yuan Jingsong understood what Li Zhou meant. It was the same principle as nuclear weapons: nuclear weapons could destroy humanity, but humans were the ones who made the decision.
Still, restrictions were necessary just in case.
Yuan Jingsong took a deep breath and asked the final question.
"Can the Intelligent Assistant be cracked?" Although the research institute had spent seven days without finding even a clue, what if it was cracked? Especially by foreign countries.
Although Xia Country's technology had advanced rapidly over the years through the hard work of countless predecessors, there was still a certain gap from the world's best in some areas. That was an undeniable fact.
"At present, even if I gave you twenty years, you still wouldn't be able to crack the Intelligent Assistant. If you can't crack it, then those foreigners have even less chance."
"I know what you're thinking. In fact, foreigners truly have no advantage over you when it comes to cracking the Intelligent Assistant. For them, there is even one more obstacle."
At this point, Li Zhou wore a strange expression and could not help wanting to laugh. For foreigners to crack the Intelligent Assistant, they would first have to be proficient in Han Language, right? It was not that Li Zhou looked down on foreigners, but even among Xia Country's people, how many truly understood Han Language and pictographs, let alone their meanings?
Seeing Yuan Jingsong's puzzled expression, Li Zhou revealed just a tiny bit.
"This involves trade secrets, but it won't be long. You'll understand what I mean then."
Yuan Jingsong could only accept this helplessly. After learning everything he needed to know, he finally explained the cooperation proposal he had brought this time.
After Yuan Jingsong finished explaining the requirements, Li Zhou rubbed his chin and fell into thought. As it happened, a customized Intelligent Assistant he had prepared in advance completely met Yuan Jingsong's requirements.
"Mr. Li—uh, Li Zhou, are there any difficulties? If there are, you can tell us."
Li Zhou rolled his eyes at Yuan Jingsong. "I already prepared the Intelligent Assistant you requested. It fully meets your requirements, but there is only an installation version, not the source code."
Although Yuan Jingsong was somewhat disappointed by the lack of source code, he could understand.
"We understand that. Trade secrets and all."
"I wonder, what requirements do you have?"
Meanwhile, while Li Zhou and Yuan Jingsong were discussing cooperation, the entire internet had already erupted over the Intelligent Assistant.
Everywhere was filled with netizens' complaints.
Under one of the most popular short videos testing the Intelligent Assistant, netizens flooded the comments with complaints.
"Does anyone know which company made the Intelligent Assistant? I can't hold back anymore—I need to call customer service and complain."
"So which company does the Intelligent Assistant belong to? Can't any big shot reveal it?"
"This is seriously infuriating. One second ago, I was marveling at how 100 yuan for permanent use of the Intelligent Assistant was unbelievably cheap, so I paid immediately. Then I was completely dumbfounded."
"Don't even mention it. It's full of E-company tricks. I've already spent over 1,000, and every time I hear my adorable little Xiao Xue making a request, my hand can't stop itself from pressing pay."
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