Chapter 121: Password (4)

121 – Password (4)

Lin Xun went straight to the preparation room at the side of the podium, from where he could also see the scene on the stage—though it was called a podium, it was actually a very large stage with a full electronic screen at the back and a control area on the right side, where contestants stood to present their PowerPoint slides. At that moment, the team from two groups before them was passionately reading their slides. This team was quite large, with over twenty members, and they had already completed their first round of funding. Their purpose at the expo today was to dilute another ten percent of their equity. Their product was part of the smart home industry. After five years of development, smart homes had become a mature industry and were gradually being widely adopted. Smart kitchens, in particular, had become a standard feature of modern life—so standard that even Dong Jun, who possessed countless cutting-edge technologies, relied on a smart kitchen to prepare his breakfast and dinner.

As for smart bathrooms, storage rooms, and various other furniture, each had developed its own direction. Although each direction was expensive, and purchasing the entire system became even more costly, the industry was indeed mature. However, even in the most mature industries, blind spots exist, and this team claimed they had found one such blind spot.

Lin Xun’s interest was piqued.

He saw the presenter holding a mouse, clicking on the screen, and switching to a photo on the slide.

The photo showed an extremely fat orange tabby cat.

Lin Xun: “?”

He asked Wang Anquan, “What is this?”

Wang Anquan flipped through the list of contestants and replied, “An automatic cat-raising machine.”

Lin Xun continued watching the stage. The presenter on stage was full of enthusiasm, and the PowerPoint switched to the next slide, showing an unusually ugly silver-white machine. The presenter began introducing its functions: a smart machine designed to help you raise a pet cat in multiple ways.

Its basic function was to feed the pet cat food and water on a timed and measured basis according to the owner’s settings. The second-level function was to manipulate toys like lasers and small balls to ensure the cat got enough exercise. These two functions were relatively ordinary, as many products on the market could achieve them. However, the third-level function was more interesting, called “behavior correction.” The development team had spent three years collecting and forming a large-scale database to record and classify the behavioral information of pet cats. Based on this database, they developed an effective behavior correction system—when the monitor detected the cat engaging in undesirable behaviors, such as scratching the sofa, biting plants, or pushing glasses off high places, the robot would quickly rush to the scene to punish the cat. Similarly, when the cat performed actions deemed positive, it would be rewarded. Over time, the cat would become a well-behaved pet.

The presenter said their next step was to develop smart grooming and nail-clipping functions. When the machine detected the cat in a deep sleep, about to fall asleep, or just waking up in a dazed state, it would perform grooming, nail-clipping, or other actions the cat might resist or struggle against when awake. This required a higher level of mechanical sensitivity.

As for why it was only designed for pet cats, it was because the collection of behavioral information for other animals was not yet sufficient, though it was part of their further development plans.

After finishing the presentation, the presenter took out his machine, brought out an orange cat, and began a live demonstration.

The orange cat’s first reaction upon seeing the robot was to swipe a paw at it.

The robot’s first reaction after being hit was to punish the cat.

Thus, a tense and intense chase unfolded on stage between the robot and the orange cat.

The robot was at a clear disadvantage in speed compared to the cat, but it used a laser to lure the cat back toward itself.

The robot successfully struck the cat’s nose with its mechanical arm.

Enraged and humiliated, the cat swiped another paw.

The robot resumed the chase.

Laughter erupted from the audience.

Lin Xun: “What a genius.”

Wang Anquan: “I truly didn’t know people could be this bored. This is the second most pointless product I’ve seen today.”

Zhao Jiagou: “Come on, that behavior collection and classification is pretty impressive. I think it’s enough material for over a dozen papers.”

“Yeah, when it comes to churning out papers, who can compare to our Architecture? When you left the lab, your advisor didn’t just lose a student—he lost a paper-generating machine.” Wang Anquan: “I’m not saying they aren’t skilled, but if they can already classify a cat’s good and bad behaviors, why not develop something for humans? Put it in public spaces to identify criminals instead of fighting with cats at home. That’s pointless.”

Zhao Jiagou: “Human behavior is way more complex than a cat’s—just look at how small a cat’s brain is. If they developed something for humans, they wouldn’t need to seek investment at the Technology Expo—they’d be snapped up and bought out immediately.”

Wang Anquan gave up arguing with Zhao Jiagou and nudged Lin Xun’s elbow instead: “Anyway, I think it’s just here for laughs—definitely a one-and-done. What do you think, Algorithm?”

Lin Xun was focused on operating his phone: “I’m ordering one for Zhi Zhen.”

“See?” Zhao Jiagou said. “Huge commercial potential. It doesn’t even need to make the finals—I bet a pet supplies company will acquire it right away.”

Wang Anquan: “Yeah, I lose. There are just too many bored people in the world.”

While they were talking, Lin Xun had already found the website for the automatic cat-care machine and ordered a basic version—the advanced version hadn’t been released yet, and the intermediate version wasn’t available either.

He asked Wang Anquan: “If this is the second most pointless product, what’s the first?”

“You can’t even imagine how bored they are. They were even doing live promotions backstage. I bought one—I’ll give it to you after your presentation.” Wang Anquan replied.

Lin Xun: “If it’s so pointless, why give it to me?”

Wang Anquan: “It’s cheap.”

Lin Xun wanted to say more, but there was no time left for him to tease Wang Anquan, as the Q&A session on stage had begun. Few audience members were interested in the principles behind the cat-care robot; most asked pointless questions like, “Can this machine climb to high places?” and “Will cats like this robot more than they like me?” By the time Lin Xun had mentally rehearsed his presentation for the third time, the Q&A session was over. The presenter walked off the stage, carrying his orange cat in one hand and his cat-care machine in the other. Five minutes were allotted for the judges to score the presentation, though the scores weren’t announced publicly. So, Lin Xun rehearsed his presentation one more time.

For him, it was impossible to passionately and emotionally introduce his own product. His only strength might be having a clear train of thought when it came to professional issues. However, the Technology Expo targeted not the academic community, but the general public and investors—there was no need to delve too deeply into specialized content. Of course, one couldn’t be overly fanciful either. You had to present a feasible idea or product, then package it elaborately to pique investors’ interest and keep the audience thoroughly engaged.

Lin Xun felt he might not be the best at boasting, but he was definitely the one who had rehearsed his PowerPoint presentation the most.

The first slide opened—a blue background with neat, rectangular decorations, which made Lin Xun feel calm.

“Hello,” he said to the audience.

Warm applause erupted from below, seemingly more enthusiastic than what the previous contestants had received.

Lin Xun wondered if Jia Gou’s PowerPoint presentation was truly that impressive.

But three seconds later, he realized the audience wasn’t looking at the screen behind him—they were looking at his face.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened. His technical skills never received the fullest attention, which made Lin Xun feel a pang of envy again. He cleared his throat, skipping further pleasantries with the audience, and got straight to the point: “First, I’d like to talk to you about the Turing test.”

The audience responded, “Great!”

“When we converse with another entity through a barrier and cannot distinguish whether the other side is human or machine, we can preliminarily acknowledge that the other possesses human-like intelligence,” Lin Xun said. “There are many such conversational robots on the market. Sometimes I wonder, if we can have a smooth conversation with an artificial intelligence, does that mean it has attained human-like intelligence? Correspondingly, should we also acknowledge that it has acquired human-like behavioral capabilities?”

The audience quieted down a bit, and Lin Xun continued.

“Here’s a simple analogy. If I ask a conversational robot, ‘It’s about to rain—what should I do?’ it might reply, ‘Close the windows, prepare an umbrella, and move outdoor items back inside.’ At this point, it’s a competent conversational robot. But if I grant it control over the windows, umbrella, and outdoor items, and allow it to act on its own judgment, it would immediately close the windows, deliver the umbrella to the door, and move outdoor items back inside. It wouldn’t need a specific command like ‘close the windows’—it would only need to receive a ‘rain imminent’ message from the weather forecast.”

“There are many smart home devices and intelligent systems around us, each performing its own independent tasks based on sensor data, much like our limbs and organs. The instructions we give act as neural signals, serving the function of the brain. But this process could also be handled by artificial intelligence. My team and I have done something: we’ve built a super-system capable of connecting with and coordinating all smart devices. First, we’ve named this concept—the Engine.”

For a moment, the audience fell silent.