Lei Zi's Appreciation

Facing Lei Zi's attempt to poach him, Lin Yuan's first reaction wasn't to figure out why the other party wanted to poach him, but to marvel at how many people in the IT circle seemed to know about Lei Zi's basic operations.

Otherwise, Musk wouldn't have been so certain that he was the one trying to poach him, even agreeing to a bet like “installing a turn signal stalk.”

What truly opened Lin Yuan's eyes was that Musk already knew Lei Zi was going to poach him. Otherwise, when he just mentioned it to the other party, the other party wouldn't have been so certain that it was Lei Zi.

Lin Yuan even felt that Musk was intentionally trying to convey something.

But he thought back, he had never mentioned this matter to anyone else.

So how did Musk know? He suddenly remembered that the Coarse Grain Factory itself had a lot of foreign capital investment. Furthermore, it might be difficult for headhunting companies to keep quiet.

Who knows. Lin Yuan could only feel that the business world was so complex, and everyone was full of schemes.

“Student Lin Yuan, it's a pleasure to meet you,” Lei Zi said, chatting with Lin Yuan in his not-so-standard Mandarin.

Lin Yuan had to pull his thoughts back, “Hello, President Lei, I finally get to meet you in person.”

“Haha, I should be saying that. Ever since I saw your interview, I've always wanted to find an opportunity to meet you. I'm very interested in your discourse on humans and AI, and I really like your personality—frank, enthusiastic, and unpretentious.”

“President Lei is interested in my views on AI?”

“Of course. The development of AI has never had a clear direction, and I'm very interested in your idea of an AI Manager.”

Lin Yuan immediately said awkwardly, “But I didn't mention that on the show.”

Lin Yuan was right. Originally, he wanted to talk about this topic on the show, as he personally felt that this topic was much more interesting than talking about anything related to Tesla.

However, it was CCTV after all, and for the sake of prudence, this topic was rejected during script review, fearing that the concept was too advanced and would scare the general public. So Lin Yuan never had the opportunity to discuss it publicly.

Therefore, Lei Zi's claim that he was very interested in Lin Yuan's discourse on humans and AI after watching the interview was simply nonsense, because Lin Yuan had never discussed it at all.

Seeing Lin Yuan's unyielding reply, Lei Zi wasn't angry at all; he even got up to pour tea for Lin Yuan, “Then perhaps I remembered wrong, maybe I saw it through other channels. As the saying goes, 'knowledge comes in order of precedence,' and today I want to consult you about your ideas regarding the 'AI Manager.' Let's see if this idea can promote enterprise management.”

Lei Zi's respectful attitude made Lin Yuan feel a bit at a loss.

No wonder this guy has a good reputation online. Although Lei Zi has many haters, almost no one says he puts on airs.

A trillionaire CEO personally pouring you tea at your first meeting, with a humble attitude of seeking advice, would make anyone's heart pound.

Fortunately, Lin Yuan had already witnessed Musk, that even more unrestrained tech fanatic, otherwise he would truly feel a sense of gratitude like “meeting a wise lord.”

The most impressive thing about Musk is that he never acts like a boss in front of Lin Yuan, but rather appears as a friend and partner. He even sends Lin Yuan funny videos of that Old Boy from Mar-a-Lago.

Although the Old Boy appears energetic in public, he is almost 80 years old after all, and in private, he is just an old man who often gets tired and dozes off.

Once you've seen the ocean, other waters are not worth seeing!

Lin Yuan was no longer intimidated by Lei Zi, not overly flattered, just feeling that the other party was indeed a good person.

“President Lei, actually, I don't have a very clear idea. I also didn't specifically want to promote the concept of 'AI Manager.' In fact, I personally feel that this concept itself was hyped up by people with ulterior motives. I'll tell you quietly, it might be that guy Musk stirring things up behind the scenes...”

“Hahaha~~~,” Lin Yuan's unreservedness made Lei Zi burst into laughter, “Elon and I are also friends, and I actually think he's deliberately hyping it up. It's rare for you to be so open about it, I really appreciate your straightforwardness.”

Lin Yuan interjected, “After all, building rockets is very expensive.”

“Indeed.” The two instantly understood each other. People like Musk can even do things like 'cutting leeks' with cryptocurrency, and he's done it more than once. So 'cutting leeks' with tech concepts is simply effortless and without scruples.

Lin Yuan couldn't even imagine what kind of fate an entrepreneur in China would face if they dared to openly 'cut leeks' with concepts like cryptocurrency; they would most likely be tied up.

However, he then thought again, China has its own characteristics. The ways of 'cutting leeks' here are unspeakable, and to some extent, perhaps even more ruthless than Musk. After all, Musk still has some bottom line when 'cutting leeks,' but this is not good to say too much about...

Lin Yuan pulled his thoughts back and continued, “Actually, according to my idea, I don't want to come up with an idea and then build validation around that idea. My original intention was to do something, and then come up with new ideas to complete that thing.

As for whether new technical ideas or concepts will emerge from this, I don't really care.

To be honest, President Lei, I really want to make the food delivery business a success.

Because I started as a delivery riders, I feel that food delivery has developed to its current state where there's nothing left to innovate.

If that's the case, then why not form a unified national standard?

In fields where there's not much room for innovation, allowing capital to mess around, I personally believe, does more harm than good.”

Lei Zi sipped his tea and praised, “You're right, the food delivery industry is a field with no technological ceiling. Such fields should not give birth to large companies.”

“Yes,” Lin Yuan went further, “Large companies born in fields with no technological ceiling are bound to be created through monopolies. This is not a good phenomenon. Most importantly, food delivery is not a field related to national defense and security, so the state will not actively intervene. Then naturally, competition should be completely open.”

“Keep going, I love listening.”

“The business logic of food delivery is too simple. It's just customers placing orders with merchants, and then delivery riderss picking up items from merchants and delivering them to customers. With such simple business logic, why are there so many complex algorithms? Aside from the complexity of delivery scheduling itself, a large number of algorithms are actually used to target people.

The part of the algorithm that targets people is meant to muddy the waters, making prices vague and uncertain through red packets, coupons, and activities, thereby allowing food delivery platforms to control pricing power. To put it bluntly, it's fishing in troubled waters.

This is essentially the same principle as the era of 4S car dealerships.

The manufacturer just gives a guide price, and then the 4S dealerships below sell their own. They even wish that the same car sold to Zhang San and Li Si by the same dealership could have vastly different prices.

This is essentially a backward sales method, because in this process, no value is actually generated; it merely satisfies the merchant's greed for selling one item at multiple prices.

The development of technology should break these shackles and let technology truly serve the general public.”

“Well said, you align very well with our values.” Lei Zi looked at Lin Yuan with appreciation, “After this food delivery project is completed, do you have any plans for the future?”

“Not yet.”

“That's right, you're young, you can take your time to think. What you said today has really moved me.”

Lin Yuan immediately responded, “Does President Lei also want to enter the food delivery industry?”

Lin Yuan instantly flustered Lei Zi, because what the other party said about being moved was clearly directed at Lin Yuan himself, and Lin Yuan was obviously pretending to be confused while knowing full well.

“Uh, your suggestion is very good, I'll discuss it with our team when I get back.”

After some more small talk, the tea session quickly ended.

Lei Zi didn't explicitly say he wanted to poach Lin Yuan, because Lin Yuan's attitude had already unintentionally shown itself.

But it was very clear that Lei Zi appreciated him greatly.