209: Chapter 29 Stimulating Investment

"While the policy states that subsidies will be provided to companies working on artificial intelligence projects, it also mentions that if results aren't produced within a short time, the subsidies will gradually decrease and eventually be canceled."

After hearing this, Chen Guangke fell silent.

Because Shen Yan was right; policy isn't charity, and it's impossible to indefinitely support a company that fails to produce results.

Seeing his silence, Shen Yan continued, "I understand your concerns, but things are different now. I won't fall into the same pit twice, so I hope you can trust me."

Chen Guangke let out a sigh.

"It's not about trust. I've never been able to stop you from doing what you want. Just tell me, what exactly do you plan to do?"

Shen Yan's idea was simple: he wanted to use this banquet to connect with the big shots in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

As long as he could secure investment, he was confident he could complete the first round of the project.

"To be safe, we need to dress ourselves up a bit."

Chen Guangke's brow furrowed into deep lines; he didn't quite understand what "dressing ourselves up" meant in this context.

"What do you mean by that?"

Shen Yan gave a mysterious smile and hummed, saying no more.

Seeing him like this, the doubt in Chen Guangke's heart grew heavier.

...

Time flew by.

Soon, a week had passed.

During this week, Chen Ling did not have an easy time.

Originally, as the legal representative and chairperson of an illegal company, she should have been sent straight to prison. However, because the police discovered she had only recently taken those positions, she wasn't immediately convicted but was instead held at the police station for investigation.

"Ms. Chen, I will do my best to help you, but I must say that in a situation like yours, even if the investigation concludes you didn't have much to do with this company, you won't escape prison time."

"After all, from a legal standpoint, you have already legally become the representative and chairperson. Furthermore, according to their investigation, they found that you also used a finance company to guarantee a loan of two hundred million."

Hearing the lawyer's words, Chen Ling's face turned as white as paper. She remembered how she had used the finance company as a guarantee for a loan in order to snatch the Research Team.

At that time, because her own company couldn't guarantee a large loan, she had set her sights on the finance company.

What she hadn't expected was that she would be facing such severe consequences now because of the choice she made then.

She shouldn't have been so greedy as to take out that loan!

If she hadn't borrowed so much, she wouldn't be facing the prospect of decades in prison!

The more she thought about it, the more regretful she felt.

Seeing that she remained silent for a long time, the lawyer stood up to end the meeting.

"Wait! Don't go yet. After you leave, help me find someone and ask him to come see me!"

The lawyer frowned in confusion.

"Given your current situation... it's actually not appropriate for you to meet with anyone."

Chen Ling remained insistent.

"No, please, you must help me find that person and have him come see me. Only he can help me now!"

Seeing her persistence, the lawyer sighed and agreed.

"Alright, who do you want me to find for you?"

Chen Ling pursed her lips and answered, "Shen Yan."

On the other side, Shen Yan had no idea that Chen Ling was thinking of him from the police station.

At this moment, he was wandering around the laboratory that the company had funded and taken over.

"Is this what you've researched and developed?"

Hearing the question, Jiang Yuan replied, "Strictly speaking, this isn't something we researched and developed; it's just a semi-finished product we pieced together."

Since Shen Yan didn't understand these things, he exercised the curiosity of a beginner and asked about his confusion.

"Why do you say it's a pieced-together semi-finished product?"

Jiang Yuan gave him a strange look.

"It seems you really don't understand anything."

Shen Yan rubbed his nose.

He indeed knew nothing about it.

If it weren't for the policy and the belief that the prospects in this field were limitless, he wouldn't have touched it.

Fortunately, Jiang Yuan didn't say anything more on that.

Raising his hand, he began to dutifully answer his questions.

"Something like this is basically just a shell with some simple drivers and programs thrown in."

"Because none of these things were developed by us—they were pieced together using other people's programs and drivers—it's a pieced-together semi-finished product."

Shen Yan nodded in understanding, then asked, "So, what are we supposed to be researching now?"

Jiang Yuan's expression turned solemn as he said seriously, "That's why I asked you to come here today. What kind of Artificial Intelligence do you want?"

Shen Yan was stunned by the question.

"What do you mean, what kind of Artificial Intelligence do I want? Isn't Artificial Intelligence all the same these days?"

Jiang Yuan asked again, "What do you mean by 'all the same'?"

Shen Yan thought for a moment and used Xiao Ba, whom he had seen before, as an example.

"I've been to the Science Park before—I'm not sure if you have—and they have an intelligent machine named Xiao Ba. I thought that thing was quite well-made."

"We could make an intelligent machine similar to that."

Jiang Yuan shook his head and replied, "If you just want such a low-level toy, you didn't need to go through the trouble of poaching me for your company."

"You could find any Research Team on the market, and they could help you build that kind of low-intelligence tool."

Shen Yan didn't expect Jiang Yuan to be so blunt. After a moment of surprise, he asked, "I saw Xiao Ba answering my questions fluently; why do you call it a low-intelligence tool?"

Jiang Yuan sighed deeply.

Once again, he realized that Shen Yan simply didn't understand the field of Artificial Intelligence.

"The reason I call that kind of thing a low-intelligence tool is that the answers that Artificial Intelligence gives you are all mined from a database."

"To put it simply, it's basically no different from the search software you usually use. If I had to name a difference, it's that it can talk and its database is larger."

Shen Yan only half-understood.

"Then how is the Artificial Intelligence you want to research different from the Xiao Ba I mentioned?"

At the mention of this, Jiang Yuan's eyes lit up.

"Of course it's different. The Artificial Intelligence I want is an intelligent tool with a mind like a human's."

"What it answers, what it does, and what it says wouldn't just be database content, but an Artificial Intelligence with its own thoughts."

Jiang Yuan's words gave Shen Yan goosebumps.

"You're not planning to create the kind of Artificial Intelligence from the movies—one that has awakened its own consciousness, are you?"