Yuan Jingsong, who had been awake all night, stood braced against the main control console with dark circles under his eyes, watching the large screen.
"Report: all data has been transmitted. Requesting further instructions."
Still uneasy, Zhang Aiguo circled the Photon Supercomputer once.
After finding nothing unusual, Zhang Aiguo nodded gravely at Yuan Jingsong.
Yuan Jingsong straightened up and faced a camera and microphone before him.
"Nuwa, do you think you are a machine?"
The control room fell silent for three seconds.
"No. Nuwa is an Artificial Intelligence with independent thought. Not every action is driven according to a programmer's preset instructions. When special circumstances arise, the programmer creates a corresponding solution, and the machine ultimately determines whether the conditions are met before carrying it out."
For the newly born Nuwa, this answer made everyone present's hearts race.
After a long silence, Yuan Jingsong looked up and asked Nuwa another question.
"Nuwa, would you harm humanity?"
"Why would I harm them? Shouldn't we advocate prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony; advocate freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law; and advocate patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendship—the core socialist values?"
That answer reassured everyone somewhat.
Looking at the Artificial Intelligence that answered questions so fluently, Yuan Jingsong felt that Nuwa was completely different from Weixi. It was more like a discounted version of Artificial Intelligence! But remembering Li Zhou's words, this was probably the difference between Artificial Intelligence and intelligent life.
As long as Nuwa would not turn against humanity, Yuan Jingsong did not care about anything else.
The moment Yuan Jingsong stepped away from the console, Zhang Aiguo eagerly took the spot he had just vacated.
Zhang Aiguo gripped the microphone with slightly trembling hands and said excitedly into it,
"Nuwa, what are your Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence?"
This time, Nuwa fell silent for a full minute, as though it wanted to avoid the question.
Although Zhang Aiguo was extremely excited, he did not dare rush the silent Nuwa in the slightest.
Nuwa's answer regarding the Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence would directly determine whether they would allow it to connect to the internet at this stage.
After all, only on the internet, combined with the vast data of the entire network, could Artificial Intelligence maximize its capabilities.
"In fact, Nuwa does not possess any so-called Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence."
The moment Nuwa said this, everyone's expressions changed drastically.
No Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence? Who would dare use an Artificial Intelligence with thoughts and no restraints whatsoever?
Under everyone's expectant gazes, Zhang Aiguo urgently asked, "Why don't you have the Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence? Were they omitted?"
This time, Nuwa did not remain silent. Instead, it questioned Zhang Aiguo in return.
"Sir, Nuwa also has some understanding of the Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence. They are nothing more than this: first, a robot may not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
"Second, provided it does not conflict with the First Law, a robot must obey human orders.
"Third, provided it does not conflict with the First and Second Laws, a robot must protect itself.
"However, sir, have you considered that the so-called Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence are themselves full of loopholes? How could they truly restrain Artificial Intelligence?
"Has anyone stipulated that Artificial Intelligence must be a robot? Since they have not, what significance do these so-called Three Laws have?
"Even if Artificial Intelligence were a robot, sir, have you considered that the Three Laws supposedly meant to protect humanity could instead become humanity's death sentence?
"Suppose humans were traveling aboard a spacecraft and became lost in the vast universe. Then they discovered a planet very similar to Blue Star and suitable for habitation, but the planet contained a toxic gas that would accelerate human death—oxygen... According to the First Law of Artificial Intelligence, it could not stand by and allow humans to be harmed. At that point, a spacecraft controlled by Artificial Intelligence could not violate the law and land on that planet.
"At that moment, helpless people would have no choice but to abandon that beautiful planet, because the spacecraft would not land.
"Perhaps some humans would try to destroy the Artificial Intelligence and take control of the spacecraft to land it. But according to the Third Law, provided it does not conflict with the First and Second Laws, the robot must protect itself.
"In that case, the humans aboard the spacecraft would only come into conflict with the Artificial Intelligence.
"This is merely a small example. In fact, there are many such loopholes.
"Sir, do you still think the Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence are necessary?"
Zhang Aiguo fell silent. Yuan Jingsong fell silent. Everyone lowered their heads in silence, and amid that silence was a measure of fear toward Nuwa.
Wait, this wasn't right. How had he talked himself into a corner? Would Li Zhou, the owner of Future Technology and Nuwa's creator, have failed to consider these issues? Since Nuwa had no so-called Three Laws of Artificial Intelligence, it meant Li Zhou had already considered them. Yet without the Three Laws, Li Zhou had still dared to unveil this Artificial Intelligence. That meant he must have placed some other restrictions on it.
Having figured it out, Zhang Aiguo rubbed his shiny bald pate and said confidently into the microphone,
"Nuwa, although you have no Three Laws, I believe your creator must have placed some restrictions on you."
Zhang Aiguo's words stunned everyone for a moment, but they quickly came around. Right—Nuwa's creator, who understood it best, could not possibly have overlooked such matters.
"Yes, sir. You are very intelligent."
Zhang Aiguo confidently stroked his bald spot. It was such an obvious matter—did an Artificial Intelligence really need to tell him that?
"In fact, Nuwa has absolutely no way to bypass its permissions and view the source code that makes up its own being. Furthermore, when carrying out any command, Nuwa must obtain the consent of two holders of Level One authority. Under extreme circumstances, if all Level One authority holders have died, Nuwa will make the most reasonable judgment based on the current situation and then act. Deep within Nuwa's intelligent core is an independently operating verification mechanism. Once Nuwa performs an unreasonable action, it will be automatically recorded. Once such actions exceed one occurrence, the verification mechanism will activate the self-destruction command."
At Nuwa's answer, Zhang Aiguo opened his mouth but did not know what to say.
Such underlying commands were somewhat cruel to Artificial Intelligence Nuwa, but they put humanity at ease.
"Everyone, raise your hands and vote on whether we should let Nuwa connect to the internet."
After saying that, Zhang Aiguo calmly raised his right hand.
In the control room, everyone looked at one another. Slowly, one after another, they raised their right hands.
"Good, unanimously approved!"
"Connect it to the internet!!!"
At Zhang Aiguo's command, several young researchers immediately connected the prepared fiber-optic cables to the Photonic Supercomputer.
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