Rebirth 2004: I can make money by writing.

12 month 20 day,

A north wind carrying cold air swept across the southern cities, and the temperature in the bustling city of Shenzhen dropped sharply to around 10 degrees Celsius, forcing people to wrap themselves up tightly.

Under the gray sky, fine raindrops covered the entire city like a veil, adding a sense of bleakness to this winter.

Outside the conference room of the Future Technology Group headquarters building, the winter rain gently hit the glass windows, making a faint rustling sound.

Inside the room, dozens of scientific researchers in neat work clothes were listening attentively to Hao Qiang's explanation.

Hao Qiang stood in front of the projection screen, pointing at the slides with a laser pen, his voice calm and passionate.

Some time ago, he finally completed the scientific research task of solid-state lithium metal batteries.

At this time, he began to arrange the research and development tasks of intelligent robots.

The group's subsidiary, Future Intelligent Technology Company, is currently mainly responsible for the research and development of controller systems, intelligent vehicle systems, EDA software and other software, and has already possessed quite strong scientific research capabilities.

The fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, retinal recognition, iris recognition technologies and advanced security systems used by the company were also independently developed by the company.

In Hao Qiang's view, the research and development of intelligent robots can be divided into two main parts:

One is artificial intelligence (AI), which is mainly biased towards software development;

The second is the robot itself, which involves mechanical engineering and automated control.

He emphasized that these two aspects are indispensable and must be developed in a coordinated manner to create truly intelligent and practical robots.

Hao Qiang then gave an in-depth explanation of the development history of artificial intelligence.

As an important branch of computer science, artificial intelligence has been hailed as one of the world's three major cutting-edge technologies since the 1970s, on par with space technology and energy technology.

After entering the 21st century, it is considered to be one of the three cutting-edge technologies leading the future, along with genetic engineering and nanoscience.

In the past three decades, artificial intelligence technology has made rapid progress and has been widely used in many fields such as medical diagnosis, financial analysis, autonomous driving, smart home, and has achieved remarkable results.

It not only changes people's lifestyles, but also promotes the intelligent transformation of various industries.

There are two definitions of artificial intelligence in the industry: strong artificial intelligence and weak artificial intelligence.

Strong artificial intelligence means that the machine is not only intelligent, but also self-aware and can truly understand and think;

Weak artificial intelligence means that the machine is only executing preset programs. It looks like it has intelligence, but in fact it does not have real thinking ability and autonomous consciousness.

Although artificial intelligence with autonomous consciousness often appears in science fiction works, in reality, most scientists believe that achieving true strong artificial intelligence still faces huge challenges, and some even believe that it is an impossible goal.

As of 2011, artificial intelligence technology was still in a relatively early stage, and its development was mainly limited by the level of chip technology.

Current processor performance and storage capacity cannot meet the needs of complex AI algorithms.

But many companies have also developed quasi-intelligent robots.

Boston Dynamics, known for developing highly advanced dynamic balance and motion control robots, has just released an improved version of its quadruped robot "BigDog."

iRobot just launched a new generation of Roomba vacuum cleaner robots this year, with improved navigation and cleaning capabilities.

The other four major industrial robot companies, such as KUKA, have launched a new generation of lightweight robots.

These companies are laying the foundation for the next decade of AI and robotics.

In 2024, Hao Qiang's previous life,

Industrial robots have been widely used in manufacturing and the technology is relatively mature;

The application of service robots in medical care, logistics, cleaning and other fields is increasing;

Biomimetic robots have made progress in motor capabilities, but their comprehensive intelligence remains limited;

Social robots can already engage in simple conversational interactions, but their intelligence level is limited. Just like Future 3.0, they can actually also engage in simple conversational interactions.

It can also be said that Future Technology Group has been engaged in AI research and development for three years.

In that era, robot dogs could already be used on the battlefield.

Hao Qiang wants to develop an intelligent robot whose technological level far exceeds that of the intelligent robots in 2024. It will be able to help him complete basic scientific research work, such as accurately operating various experimental equipment according to simple voice commands, reading and understanding complex manuals, and independently installing and maintaining various precision equipment, instead of having to program very cumbersome programs to perform a certain operation.

If this goal can be achieved, establishing autonomous mining bases and factories on distant planets will no longer be a plot in science fiction.

Robots will be able to carry out various complex engineering projects in harsh environments, paving the way for deep space exploration.

Hao Qiang calls this level of intelligence a "true semi-artificial intelligence robot." Its intelligence level is close to strong artificial intelligence, and it has almost human-like reasoning and problem-solving abilities, but it does not yet have complete self-awareness.

Of course, if it really develops to this level, the world will really change.

If they can perform complex operations based on simple task prompts, they can definitely go to the battlefield and kill people.

Therefore, AI robots of this level cannot be exposed.

Some basic work requires the help of scientific research teams, while more advanced artificial intelligence and autonomous decision-making capabilities are developed privately by Hao Qiang himself and cannot be made public.

Smart technologies that can be made public can of course also be applied to the market.

The road to developing a "true semi-artificial intelligence robot" is extremely long and challenging. It will face countless technical difficulties and may require breakthroughs in current computing architecture, materials science, energy technology and other fields.

For example, the chip process may need to reach within 1 nanometer, and solid-state lithium metal batteries can solve the energy problem.

But if we only do basic work, it may take two or three years to produce results. Under the guidance of Hao Qiang, its technical level is very likely to reach or even exceed that in 2024.

Hao Qiang selected sixty to seventy scientific research elites to form a basic team, and planned to establish a scientific research team of about five hundred people.

He stood in front of a whiteboard and drew a detailed organizational chart with a marker, clearly showing the two core departments of the project: "Ladies and gentlemen, our team will be divided into two main departments: AI R&D Department and Robot Body Development Department.

These two departments will become the two wings of our project, neither of which can be separated."

Pointing at a chart, he further explained, "The AI ​​R&D department will focus on developing the robot's 'brain,' which requires a huge amount of knowledge to learn, including deep learning algorithms, natural language processing systems, and complex decision-making models.

The Robot Body Development Department is responsible for designing and manufacturing the robot's 'body' that can adapt to various environments, including sensor systems, drive mechanisms, material selection, etc.

Hao Qiang emphasized the importance of collaboration between the two departments, saying, “The two departments must work closely together and support each other.

The intelligent systems developed by the AI ​​department need to adapt to the hardware characteristics of the robot, and the hardware designed by the robotics department must also be able to fully unleash the potential of AI.

Only through continuous iteration and optimization can we create truly revolutionary intelligent robots."

He then introduced the company's technological advantages, "Our company has profound accumulation in chip manufacturing, precision machining and advanced materials manufacturing.

These capabilities will provide strong support for our AI intelligent robot projects.

We can customize and develop dedicated AI chips, manufacture precision mechanical components, and even develop new types of smart materials.

During the research and development process, if you encounter any difficulties, you must raise them and do not back down because of them. No scientific research project is smooth sailing.

If that's the case, I'm really not suitable for a position like scientific research."

Afterwards, Hao Qiang began to assign specific tasks to each team.

He elaborated in detail on the goals, timelines and key technical difficulties of each sub-project.

From basic algorithm research to actual application scenario testing, every link has been carefully planned.

The atmosphere in the conference room became increasingly heated, and every researcher felt the heavy responsibility on their shoulders and the opportunities before them.

They realized that they were standing at the forefront of a technological revolution and were about to embark on a new journey full of challenges but also full of infinite possibilities.

Finally, Hao Qiang also said frankly: "Everyone, I must remind you that the investment scale of this project is unprecedented.

It is very likely to become a bottomless financial black hole. We may need to invest tens of billions of yuan or even more, and there is still no guarantee that we can fully achieve our goals in the end.

I need everyone to be mentally prepared to face challenges, hold more discussions within the team to share experiences, and exercise more to ensure health.

As for funding, you don’t have to worry about it;

As for the technology, it depends on everyone.

Even though we may not see results in the short term, I firmly believe that every step we take will pave the way for the future.”

“However, it is precisely this uncertainty and enormous challenges that highlight the value of our work.

We are a future technology group and are at the forefront of technology.

We are exploring the boundaries of human intelligence and promoting the progress of civilization as a whole.

Even though we may not see results in the short term, I firmly believe that every step we take will pave the way for the future.

I hope everyone will have confidence and even more patience.”

After the meeting,

In the following weeks, Hao Qiang personally opened a series of high-intensity training courses for the project team members, which mainly focused on cutting-edge technologies in the field of AI.

This is true not only for this project team, but also for other project teams.

Every day is training and learning, absorbing new knowledge.

Time passes quietly in such fulfilling and busy days.

In the blink of an eye, the cold north wind began to howl, and New Year's Day 2012 arrived quietly.

Han Qingying's belly was already bulging, and her due date was still two or three months away. Every time Hao Qiang touched her round belly and felt the rhythm of the new life inside, he couldn't help but smile with happiness.