Chapter 108 The Truth of the World
Wen Chu and Jiang Xing talked in the technical department until late at night. They first discussed technical details and then common problems that arose in the final implementation stage.
Jiang Xing: "The opening prompts we've currently given to the robot's language system are still quite simple. We give it an initial setting, which the user can choose themselves—a lover, friend, family member, or someone else—there are up to 20 mature role settings, and we've also conducted corresponding dialogue and behavioral training for different roles."
"However, during the current testing phase, the robot's memory function still has defects. It often experiences memory loss and role confusion. For example, one second it captures the relationship as the user's boyfriend, but the next second its tone changes to that of an ordinary friend or a stranger, or it reverts to the initial opening tone. Regarding things or conversations mentioned by the user, it will initially bring them up in subsequent chats, but after a while it will ask the same question again as if it had never heard of them. Also, if the initial settings are set too rigidly, it is difficult to change them in subsequent interactions, and the flexibility is not high."
Wen Chu's eyes flickered slightly after hearing this.
Jiang Xing continued, "Some users who need companion robots definitely value their emotional needs and crave stable emotional value output. It's not enough for them to just execute commands accurately. The memory disconnect issues we're currently experiencing will greatly affect the user experience, leading to emotional detachment, misalignment, and a sense of disappointment."
"How to retain, select, and utilize memories is a key issue. With current technology, it is unavoidable for memories to fade over time. We cannot spend a lot of money to store all the interactive memories generated by the robot. However, it is very necessary to retain important information about users in their daily lives, such as hobbies, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. The overall emotional tone must also be captured in a timely manner. We cannot let our progress regress. I think we need to maintain a database and update the important user data in real time."
Jiang Xing pointed to the test results on the computer and shared his insights, but Wen Chu was lost in thought.
She stared intently at the failed yet classic test conversation records displayed on the screen for a long time. Listening to what the other person was saying in her ear, her brain seemed to be drawn into a vortex, with countless thoughts slowly connecting.
Finally, in an instant, I had a sudden epiphany.
"So that's how it is." Her eyes flickered violently as she murmured softly.
Tears welled up in her eyes, so she closed them for a while to calm herself down.
She finally found the meaning of her existence, the true purpose of the system, and the reason for all the ups and downs she had experienced during this time.
"Have you thought of a solution?" Jiang Xing saw that the man had been silent for a long time and assumed that he was thinking about a solution, so he didn't dare to disturb him.
Wen Chu took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, and said seriously, "Yes. First of all, the current algorithm framework needs to be upgraded. I didn't have time to mention it before, but the RX algorithm is a must. Has Lu Ming been researching it this year?"
"Yes, but it's not yet well integrated with our needs, and its performance and stability still need improvement."
Wen Chu understood: "This is the key point going forward, and I'll make the adjustments. What you just said about the database makes a lot of sense. Memory is the carrier of emotion, and our model must learn to determine which memories are important and cannot be forgotten. The emotional progress also needs to be refined and extracted regularly based on user interactions and updated into the database."
"In addition, we need to combine voice and image modules to enhance the machine's recognition and understanding of emotions. The training data in this area needs to be refined, and high-quality dialogue datasets and text references need to be found. I still need some theoretical and algorithmic support for the specific rectification plan. It will take some time to study and organize. Next, I will have to ask everyone in the technical department to help me continuously test the effect and analyze the shortcomings."
"I'll have a meeting in a few days and I'll focus on explaining the next technical roadmap to everyone."
Wen Chu shared many of her thoughts with Jiang Xing in one breath, and Jiang Xing took notes of them all, his eyes filled with excitement: "Okay."
The project had reached a bottleneck, and everyone was pessimistic behind the scenes, thinking it wouldn't last long. But the return of the person in front of him gave Jiang Xing renewed hope and motivation. He sincerely believed that the other party had the ability to lead them to overcome this difficulty and reach the next level.
Wen Chu was completely unaware of what people were thinking. Her mind was in turmoil. She glanced at the time on her phone and said, "It's so late. You should go home first. I'll check again."
Jiang Xingben hesitated to leave, not wanting her to suffer alone, but in the end, he was persuaded to leave by Wen Chu's earnest words.
Jiang Xing's eyes shone, and he opened the office door with a smile. But when he turned around, he met Lu Ming's gaze, who was leaning against the door. He was taken aback, and his smile faded considerably. He was about to greet him, but Lu Ming stopped him, signaling him to keep his voice down.
Jiang Xing lowered his voice and asked, "Is the boss waiting for Director Wen?"
"Why have you been talking for so long? Do you have so much to say?" Lu Ming asked, his expression unreadable.
"Director Wen is very professional and meticulous. She understood all aspects of the project. After I showed her the current problems and cases, she seemed to have a solution. She said that we would have a meeting in a few days to discuss it in detail. It's really hard not to be impressed." Jiang Xing's tone was full of undisguised admiration.
Lu Mingben was staring blankly at the office door like a statue waiting for his wife, but upon hearing this, his dark eyes glanced sideways at Jiang Xing.
Jiang Xing suddenly felt nervous, wondering what he had said wrong.
"Jiang Xing, how old are you this year?" Lu Ming suddenly asked.
Jiang Xing answered blankly, "Twenty-nine."
"You should put more effort into finding a girlfriend, work less overtime, and go on more blind dates. It's not easy to find one after thirty."
"ah?"
The room, separated by just one door, was completely silent.
Wen Chu's mind was still unsettled. With no one else around, she finally relaxed, nestled in her office chair, stared at the computer screen, and took a long time to calm down.
The twists and turns she experienced here were so similar to what Jiang Xing had just described, and so similar to the user feedback she received in reality.
Yes, how come she never thought of it that way?
It was as if she had been transported into the world of the algorithm she had designed, as a trial user.
Lu Ming is the embodiment of the companion robot. His initial settings are assigned by the system, so he is initially indifferent, rigid, and monotonous. He will be affected by the initial instructions, but as he interacts with her more and more, he will gradually develop more distinct and specific preferences and emotions.
The flawed algorithm she designed became the rule of this world and was imposed on Lu Ming. As a result, he always suffered catastrophic memory loss and would be suddenly reset at various stages, with his speech and settings returning to the beginning.
Because she simply and crudely used melodramatic romance novels as emotional training data for her model, all sorts of bugs and melodramatic plots appeared in this world.
Everything just clicked.
It turns out that the system's purpose was always with her.
We wanted her, a proponent of pragmatism, to truly understand the negative emotions conveyed by every single negative review from users in real life.
Those people inevitably experience the disappointment of being forgotten at the height of their emotions, as well as the helplessness and pain of being unable to restore the machine to its best state no matter how hard they try.
These are things that she, being someone who is not emotionally aware, could hardly empathize with.
So the system guided her step by step to get to know Lu Ming, not to make Lu Ming fall in love with her, but to make her fall in love with Lu Ming, and in the process, to repeatedly experience the pain of being forgotten.
This way, she can empathize with those users.
It is both punishment and enlightenment.
It turns out that she was the one who needed a lot of training data to gain emotional intelligence.
Wen Chu couldn't help but laugh.
Throughout her twenty-six years of life, her emotions have remained relatively stable. Apart from the intermittent pain caused by her father's unexpected death, she has been able to focus on what she wants to do and has hardly needed emotional support.
The love from her parents, brothers, and friends has always nurtured her silently. However, she is clueless about love and has never had any romantic feelings for anyone in her youth, so she doesn't have much emotional need.
Therefore, she believed that it was not important what role the robot played, but rather what practical problems the robot could help users solve in their daily lives.
"You really went to great lengths to teach me a lesson." Wen Chu leaned back in her chair, recalling the unease and depression she had been feeling these past few days. She gave a self-deprecating laugh, a hint of tears glistening in her eyes. "Should I thank you?"
It was quiet all around.
After a long pause, she finally nodded sincerely: "You win. In all my years, this is probably the worst experience I've ever had. I accept the punishment. I was wrong. I didn't think things through and didn't take the public's demands seriously. I caused them a lot of negative emotions behind the scenes."
If Wen Chu hadn't actually gone through that experience, she would never have understood the importance of the issues Jiang Xing had just raised.
She still feels these are minor, tolerable bugs, and that users are being overly critical, unable to distinguish between reality and technology. After all, this is a common problem in the industry, and she doesn't need to delve into it.
Yes, she was indeed wrong.
As if in response, the system spoke up: "Please strive to complete the main quest and return to the real world as soon as possible!"
"So you really are here to uphold justice, huh?" Wen Chu quickly composed herself, then sat up straight, questioning the air with a hint of indignation. "Fine, I admit I made a mistake, but why am I the only one being punished? Lu Ming is my direct supervisor, and he was personally in charge of this project. Doesn't he have any fault at all? Although he did ask me to make changes, he was also the one who finalized the launch. Shouldn't he bear some responsibility? He's the boss, after all."
The system fell silent again.
Wen Chu paused for a moment and then changed her approach.
Perhaps, at the same time, Lu Ming is also being punished?
This system can create one small world, and it can create two. Lu Ming might also be pulled into a similar world, where he'll be miserably trying to win over someone, even if that person isn't her.
I still felt a little unbalanced, but the thought that the other person might also be experiencing unrequited love and being repeatedly forgotten made me feel a little better.
Making someone with such an icy demeanor shamelessly chase after someone must be considered torture, right? After all, even someone as carefree as her has been tormented like this.
Even if Lu Ming's situation is better than hers, it probably isn't much better.
She took a deep breath and gradually made peace with everything that had happened.
There was a sudden knock on the office door. Wen Chu quickly composed herself and said, "Come in."
Lu Ming walked in, glanced at her desk, and asked in a low voice, "Aren't you leaving yet? It's 8:30."
Looking at the person in front of her now, Wen Chu felt even more conflicted: "Didn't you stay too?"
"I’m waiting for you."
"What are you waiting for me for?"
"Let's have dinner."
"When did I say I wanted to have dinner with you?"
"How will we know if we'll get to eat if we don't wait?"
"..."
Wen Chu, who had just escaped this world for a moment, was pulled back by the man's appearance. Even though she knew that this world was fake and the person in front of her was fake, the feelings she had experienced were incredibly real, and her heart still ached whenever she thought about it.
Wen Chu sighed inwardly, turned off the computer, stood up, and walked out.
Lu Ming followed closely behind her: "If there's anything else, you can discuss it with me directly. Anyway, the result you and he come up with will eventually have to be presented to me, so it'll save you a lot of trouble if you just tell me directly."
Wen Chu stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor: "If you're free, I can notify other departments to contact you personally for any issues. I won't need to do anything here for now."
After realizing that the person in front of her was sent by the system to teach her a lesson, Wen Chu no longer knew how to treat men.
The system used Lu Ming to make her realize the importance of the continuity of memory and emotion, but ignored her afterward.
Perhaps this can be considered part of the punishment.
Learn to detach yourself consciously, just like those users who developed a dependence on their products but had to return to reality due to machine instability.
Since she'll have to wake up sooner or later, she might as well start preparing now, wrapping her heart up tighter and not taking another step forward.
She no longer hated Lu Ming; hatred was meaningless. But when she saw his face, she couldn't help but feel a pang of bitterness in her heart.
I can't let myself get any more immersed in this dream and sink deeper and deeper.
But in the end, she couldn't resist the man's insistence and ate with him.
She still had to complete the favorability tasks; she couldn't simply resist the other person's advances.
The restaurant Lu Ming took her to was the same hot pot restaurant they had eaten at before, and they even sat in the same seats.
Before she could even say anything, the other person bought two bottles of strong remedy and placed them on the table, as if trying to evoke her feelings about their somewhat pleasant past.
But her feelings don't need to be awakened; she clearly remembers them all the time.
That night marked the beginning of Wen Chu confronting her own heart, and it was also the night that would cause her heartache whenever she recalled it. Fueled by alcohol, she felt desire for a man for the first time. She boldly approached him, wanting to kiss his lips, smell his scent, feel the warmth of his skin, and get even closer.
Their hearts fluttered, and they almost disregarded everything, nearly crossing the line.
Returning to this familiar place, Wen Chu was overwhelmed with emotions. It took her a while to look up at the person opposite her. The person opposite her was also looking at her quietly, their gaze sometimes reserved and sometimes intense.
Perhaps, the Lu Ming of the past has truly returned.
But Wen Chu didn't know what to say.
The meal was eaten in silence. As usual, the other person served her food and heated it up for her, and tried to talk to her about light topics, but Wen Chu did not get drunk again.
She went home peacefully and didn't bother to have someone make her a fancy drink again. Instead, the man stopped her and asked if she could make him another drink.
"I'll adjust it for you?" Wen Chu wondered if she had misheard.
"Is that not allowed...?"
Wen Chu chuckled. "Are you pursuing me, or am I pursuing you?"
"Then I can adjust it for you," Lu Ming said, seizing the opportunity. "I've learned a lot of new ways to adjust it, you should like it."
"No need," Wen Chu declined. "Actually, I'm not that interested in this."
She closed the door to her home amidst the man's disappointed gaze.
Wen Chu took a shower, finally shedding the day's fatigue. But as she sat on the bed drying her hair and spacing out, a sudden thought flashed through her mind, making her eyes widen in surprise.
How could Lu Ming remember that she had mixed drinks for him?
That happened a long time ago; it should have been deleted by the system long ago.
Could it be that the other party really remembered everything that happened before?
She tightened her grip on her hand while drying her hair, but quickly relaxed it again.
Even if I remember, what can I do?
None of that matters anymore.
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