Chapter 492: Taihuang: Mountain and Sea Realm (5529)
Xinhao, 15th Floor, Wucaicheng, Qinghe Middle Street.
"This...this is too weird..."
Lei Jun held up his phone, staring at the screen in amazement, swearing.
In the real scene of his office, he saw a Q-version mouse with long ears and four legs jumping on the floor, which looked incongruous no matter how he looked at it.
It’s an AR (augmented reality) game. No wonder this game requires camera permission.
Microphone permissions are also available.
On second thought, it’s not surprising. Even games that are not AR are still applying for these two permissions.
There are more than just these two, most of them even require GPS and address book permissions.
If you don’t apply, there’s a high probability that you just steal it.
"Isn't this just a copy of Pocket Monster Go?"
"If you really want to copy, at least make it cuter, right? How can this thing compare to a card ball? With so much good stuff going on before me, wouldn't I get scolded to death if I showed you this at the press conference?"
Lei Jun held it in for a long time, but he couldn't help but scold him.
Fang Yu chuckled, but before he could say anything, he heard an angry sound coming from Lei Jun's phone.
"Chiao~"
Lei Jun was stunned, glanced at the screen, and found that the mouse was transforming?
But he found that the long-legged mouse on the screen was twisting strangely. Its originally round body began to deform, its hair stood up, its face gradually became longer, and its facial features became ferocious.
In the blink of an eye, it changed from a harmless Q-version image to a hideous realistic style!
Fuck! What is this!?
A long-legged, long-eared mouse with sharp teeth and claws appeared on the office floor on his screen!
“Ah~”
The long-legged mouse howled and pounced towards the screen with a ferocious look. Lei Jun was so scared that he almost threw his phone away. He leaned back and suddenly leaned against the back of the chair.
Swish!
The mouse's claws slid across the screen, leaving a claw mark on the screen that looked real.
"Haha, Mr. Lei, it just heard you say it's not as good as Pi Kaqiu, and it got upset, so it switched to combat mode. This ear mouse was just caught, and you haven't developed a relationship yet. It has a bad temper, so you have to be careful when talking to it."
Fang Yu stretched out his hand to block Lei Jun's chair.
!? !? !?
Lei Jun raised his eyebrows. Is this an AI pet that has voice recognition capabilities and can interact with players in real time?
No wonder Fang Yu thought it could be announced at the press conference.
This thing is really interesting.
There are many virtual girlfriends on the Internet now, which are actually based on the same method, but the interactive experience is not very smooth.
"This eared mouse was already three years old when we caught it, and its personality had already formed, making it difficult to train. But if we find it a companion and let it breed the next generation, raising it from a young age, it's possible that some of its offspring will be more obedient."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lei Jun reacted immediately, his surprise evident. "Wait a minute... is this mouse controlled by a proxy AI? How much parallel computing power do you need?"
Fang Yu shook his head: "Without parallel computing, this ear mouse can't be considered as a proxy AI control."
"No parallel computing? No agent AI control? Then what are you using? Just simple speech recognition and conditional feedback?"
Lei Jun relaxed instantly, ordered a cigarette, and said with a smile, "If that's the case, even though this... ear mouse seems to be more interactive than the pocket monster, it's not a revolutionary improvement."
"Twenty years ago, many electronic pets worked on the same principle. I even invested in an electronic pet company and made some pocket money."
"Oh, right, think about it carefully. If that's the case, you're similar to our classmate Xiao Ai."
Lei Jun blew two columns of smoke from his nostrils and extinguished the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray. He felt that what he had just said was a bit too much, so he added:
"The way this thing switches between its combat and normal modes is quite interesting. What graphics engine does it use?"
Fang Yu remained calm. "We developed our own visual engine specifically for AR. As for the interaction, Mr. Lei, I just said that the ear mouse isn't controlled by a proxy AI. I didn't say it was a scripted answering machine."
Lei Jun was stunned, his smile faded, and he raised his palms up: "Could you please advise?"
Fang Yu pointed at the ear mouse on the screen and said, "I said the ear mouse is not a proxy AI control because it is an independent AI in itself."
A separate AI? Lei Jun's eyes narrowed slightly.
What's the meaning?
Looking at Lei Jun's reaction, Fang Yu smiled slightly: "What it means is that it doesn't know that it is an AI. It only knows that it is an ear mouse, a three-year-old ear mouse born in Danxun Mountain in the southern Zhanbu Continent of the Mountain and Sea Realm."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lei Jun's expression even changed, and the way he looked at Fang Yu was the same as when he looked at Qiu Hongyi at last year's Internet Conference.
Most people might not be able to understand what this sentence means for a while, but Lei Jun is obviously not one of them.
In terms of coding ability and technical expertise, ten Musks may not be able to compare with Lei Jun.
Almost instantly, Lei Jun realized the meaning behind Fang Yu's words, and immediately thought deeper and further.
"Don't you know you're an AI?"
It was hard to tell whether the expression on Lei Jun's face was surprise or fear, and his voice was trembling.
"You mean, this is already a complete virtual world, and these so-called NPC pets all think they are living creatures in this world?"
"Is this the digital life of a brain in a vat?"
“How do you remove metacognition from AI?”
“Does this mean that AI has developed autonomous consciousness?”
“How to solve the computing power problem?”
This was the first time in Lei Jun's life that he was so shocked, even more shocked than when he knew that there was something called a computer in the world!
The so-called de-metacognition is to make AI unable to think, or to make it unable to think about how it is thinking.
Simply put, it can generate the question "What is this?" but cannot infer "How did I come up with this idea?"
It sounds simple, but it is harder than giving AI self-awareness.
Because this is equivalent to allowing AI to develop self-awareness, but at the same time obscuring AI's self-awareness.
In order to make the ear mouse unaware that the world it lives in is fake, at least three things need to be done:
1. Let it have only one self-consistent worldview.
2. Let its behavior be motivated by emotions rather than instructions.
3. Remove AI’s metacognition.
Among these, the most difficult and most critical point is to remove AI's metacognition so that it cannot think about how it thinks.
No matter which point it is, it is not possible to do it now. Not to mention the technical difficulty, even the massive computing power and algorithm maintenance required are far beyond the current limit.
In order to maintain the independent consciousness and complete emotional system of each ear mouse, while preventing them from developing metacognition, it is necessary to continuously carry out micro-level cognitive disturbance and information closure management for each ear mouse.
This means that just maintaining the existence of a single ear mouse requires long-term computing resources equivalent to a medium-sized cloud-based AI model.
Nowadays, for a best-selling mobile game, 100,000 players is just the beginning, while millions or even tens of millions of players are the sign of a huge hit.
Super mobile games like King of Glory have over 100 million registered users, more than 20 million daily active users, and a maximum number of online users exceeding 3 million.
With so many users, if everyone's pet uses this independent AI, how much computing power, bandwidth, and algorithm maintenance personnel will be required?
Even though the Ear Mouse only uses a small cloud inference engine with 1 billion parameters, the average floating-point operations per second are still over 1 billion.
The cloud-based real-time inference and AR rendering used by pets require at least tens of megabytes of real-time bandwidth per second for each pet.
Putting aside the question of whether the network infrastructure can meet the requirements, how do you plan to make a profit from this game with such a huge consumption?
"It's not that exaggerated, Mr. Lei." Fang Yu grinned and blinked.
"There's no question of AI's autonomous awareness. You yourself said that computing power is the ultimate limitation."
"The 'pets' in this game are all distributed micro-models with very small parameters, and the upper limit of the computing power resources that can be mobilized is extremely low."
"Just like a refrigerator equipped with a MediaTek MT6575 chip can't play Overwatch, the limits of evolution are there. No matter how many generations iterates, it can't evolve into a fully autonomous consciousness. This is a physical limitation, and there's nothing we can do about it."
"The micro-model only retains the state machine and reaction templates locally. Large-scale inference is still completed centrally on the server, and the local server is only responsible for rendering. This not only reduces the burden on the terminal but also keeps bandwidth requirements within an acceptable range."
Fang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Actually, the 3G signal bandwidth should be able to run it, but the fluctuations may be larger. With a 4G signal, as long as reasonable compression is done, it shouldn't be a big problem."
"As for computing power, I've calculated that after the data center expansion within the year, Yuzi Technology will be able to meet the needs of at least five million users online simultaneously, including its own business needs."
Fang Yu waved his hand and smiled, interrupting Lei Jun's questioning: "Don't ask me about the specific technical solution. I can only tell you the general principle. As for how it was done, it is a technical secret and cannot be disclosed."
Seeing Fang Yu's reaction, Lei Jun breathed a sigh of relief and quickly deduced the server architecture, data transmission, and cost model of the game called "Taihuang: Mountain and Sea Realm" in his mind.
He could understand the general principle of what was going on, but he had no idea how to do it.
There are countless technical difficulties that need to be overcome, and each difficulty can even be broken down into several or even dozens of small problems.
Every difficult problem may require a genius to lead a team of people to work on it for several months or even years.
He felt that even if he was still working in the gaming industry, he would not be able to handle these difficulties.
He had enough confidence that if he couldn't do it, no one in the Great Zhou would be able to do it either.
Huh? Xiao Fang, you're being disrespectful. Aren't you deliberately trying to embarrass Mr. Ma?
It would be fine if this game wasn't popular, but if it were, Tencent wouldn't be able to copy it even if it wanted to.
Thinking of this, Lei Jun lit another Caiba cigarette and leaned back in his chair, smiling innocently. "Xiao Fang seems to have a firm grasp on this game now. Of course I'd be happy to have him demonstrate it at the press conference. He's really showing his support for me."
"But your game isn't finished yet, so there's no need to preheat it with me. You don't need to raise funds."
Fang Yu shook his head: "Brother, you really guessed wrong. I will accept the financing this time."
Lei Jun sat up straight, very interested: "Tell me in detail?"
Fang Yu took a sip of Coke. "20 million Mai Yuan or 130 million Great Zhou Coins for a 5% stake, but the prerequisite is that you have investment experience in the gaming industry and can bring me talent."
Hearing this price, Lei Jun couldn't help swallowing his saliva.
It’s not that the price is high, it’s that the price is too low, it’s like giving it away for free.
Not to mention whether this game can be successful, even if it is not, the accumulated technology alone is worth more than 2.6 billion Da Zhou coins.
Adding a zero is about the same.
Of course, at this price, the most likely scenario is a split in the company structure.
The game operating company is just a shell, and the one that truly holds the core algorithms, data rights, and IP rights may still be Youzi Technology.
But even so, this 5% is a semi-welfare share.
"What exactly do you mean? I see that your game is already quite complete, which means you have a very good team. There's no need to bring in professional investors, right?"
In the mist, Lei Jun's expression looked a little unpredictable.
Fang Yu sucked his teeth and said, "Let's be frank, brother. Different trades are like different mountains. Every profession has its own specialization. I play games too, and I know that the most important thing for a game to be successful is not whether the technology is advanced or how awesome the settings are. What's the most important thing? It's that it looks good and is fun!"
"You saw that eared mouse just now. The AI-generated chibi version looks cute, but don't you think it's a little off? The realistic combat style may look authentic, but it's just a rip-off of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, lacking the designer's meticulous thought."
"As for the underlying technology, Yuzi Technology has no problem, but when it comes to artistry and entertainment, we still need to find a reliable team to refine it."
"No matter how advanced my game technology is, or how vast and complete the world view is, if it's not good to watch or fun, I'll still lose whatever I invested."
"Although I also play games, I'm not familiar with the industry and don't know which awesome teams and people there are."
"These people may not have written any papers, and may not even have any successful cases before. Their technology and abilities are strong, but they are unknown outside the industry. It is too difficult for me to find them."
"The reason I went to your press conference was to attract better artists and planning teams."
"If there's an investor who can find the right talent for me, even if he doesn't pay, what's the harm in giving him 5% for free?"
Lei Jun nodded in understanding, seeming to be lost in thought. "Looking for experienced investors? I do know a young man who specializes in game investment. Would you like to meet him? If we can reach an agreement, I can invest with him and we can discuss the investment ratio later."
Although Xiao Fang is not very old, he speaks half and reserves the other half, which is quite interesting.
I'm afraid you're not just looking for someone skilled in art planning, right?
If things go as expected, you asked me to join you because you were attracted by my supply chain system, right?
The boy is very ambitious.
But this is also a good thing. If he wants to not only make games but also enter the terminal market, he can be prepared in advance.
Lei Jun's mind was calculating rapidly, but his expression remained unchanged, still smiling. "I checked my friends' circle this morning, and he should be in Xinhao. I'll give him a call and ask if he has time to come over."
Lei Jun picked up the phone, tapped the table lightly, and dialed a number as if to confirm something.
——
"Brother Yudan? Why is it you?"
Fang Yu looked at a young man who looked to be about 27 or 28 years old who walked in with a confused look on his face.
The young man was not short, about the same height as Fang Yu before, at about 1.85 meters. He had Ekin Cheng's hairstyle, and wore a suit vest over his shirt. He had no tie, his collar was loose, and his suit jacket was hanging on his arm. He looked quite handsome.
"Xiao Fang? Just now, Mr. Lei said he wanted to introduce me to a distinguished person. Are you the one? It's been three years since we last met, right? Are Mr. Chen and Uncle Fang very nice?"
Maybe it was because Fang Yu had changed a lot after not seeing him for a few years, the young man called Fishball Brother by Fang Yu took a few seconds to recognize him, and was a little surprised to see Fang Yu.
Fang Yu put his arm around Brother Yudan's shoulders, feeling a bit happy about meeting an old friend in a foreign land. "My grandpa and dad are both very nice. I was only in my third year of high school when we last met. I didn't expect to see them here today at Mr. Lei's place."
Lei Jun blinked: "Do you know each other? Since you know each other, there is no need to be polite. Come on, come on, sit down."
Fang Yu pulled out a chair and sat down, chuckling, "We've known each other since childhood. Brother Yu Dan is eight years older than me. During my junior high summer vacation, I got into a fight while playing games at the Xinhao Internet Cafe. It was Brother Dan who helped me out. He had just graduated from university and returned to China at the time."
"I didn't expect that after not seeing you for a few years, you've become the number one game investor in China?"
Yu Dan's actions and behavior show that he is a child of aristocratic family who has been influenced by his family since childhood. His movements are neat and proper, and his smile is just right, not too much and not too little. After getting to know him more, you can feel that he is a bit aloof.
But when he heard Fang Yu talking about the past, Yu Dan scratched his temples a little embarrassedly.
"I don't have any other hobbies. I just like games, and this is the only thing I can do."
"As for you, I never thought you'd become a leader in AI in just two or three years. A few days ago, Gao Bo even asked me if he had any contact with you, but I didn't dare to ask you."
The two chatted about the past for a while, and seeing that Lei Jun kept looking at his watch, he knew that he was short on time, so he quickly changed the subject back to the main topic.
"You want to find a professional art and planning team? How many people do you need?"
After watching "Taihuang: The Realm of Mountains and Seas", Yu Dan also took a deep breath. When he heard that Fang Yu was willing to sell 5% of Youguo Games' equity for 130 million in exchange for his and Lei Jun's investment, he agreed almost without hesitation.
"The more the better. I need at least 10 teams for art, and about the same for plot planning and numerical planning." Fang Yu tapped the table with his fingers. "Of course, the level must be high."
"Ten groups of artists? And they all have to be highly skilled?" Yu Dan frowned.
"Both positions are currently undergoing layoffs, but headcount is not a problem."
"But I feel like this game is basically the Chinese version of Pocket Monsters Go. The workload for art and planning shouldn't be too heavy, right? Is it really necessary to hire so many people?"
Fang Yu shook his head: "The content of this game is far more extensive than you can imagine. Let me give you a brief introduction..."
Twenty minutes later, seeing the game architecture diagrammed layer upon layer on the whiteboard in Lei Jun's office, Yu Dan took a deep breath. "I understand now. So, I'll contact two teams for you to try it out. First, recreate the demo content from the trial version. The underlying architecture is complete. Just redo the art and plot. With the help of your AI production tool, those with experience in this area should be able to finish it in two or three days."
Fang Yu nodded and smiled. "That's great. Eh? Which team are you looking for? Have they released games before?"
Yu Dan hesitated for a moment. "They definitely have experience and are definitely capable. One of them came from a pig farm, and the other from Tengxun."
"From Tengxun?" Fang Yu frowned.
Yu Dan knew what was going on from Fang Yu's expression and explained, "Some people who came out of Tencent are actually very strong. Not all of them just copy. Many people in the industry now actually came from Tencent."
"This is the team I'm looking for. They have a deep understanding of the game and have worked on content for Classic of Mountains and Seas before."
Fang Yu said "oh", this is his good point, he respects professionalism.
"I'll contact them first. The team from Tencent previously had one or two products, but they didn't take off. I'm quite optimistic about what they're making now. If I talk to them, I'm sure they'll want to acquire the entire company, and the premium will probably be quite high."
Yu Dan picked up the phone and started dialing.
(End of this chapter)
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