Tough Choice 1

With the implementation of the AI Administrator Algorithm, even though Musk still completely trusts Lin Yuan and lets him do everything, Lin Yuan and Musk have a gentleman's agreement.

Lin Yuan would use Tesla's name to rectify the food delivery industry and achieve his ambitions, but in this process, Lin Yuan had to attribute all the benefits and reputation of the AI application to Musk.

Initially, Lin Yuan thought this initiative was perfectly fine, and Musk had generously promised that all profits from Tesla's food delivery would belong to Lin Yuan.

However, Lin Yuan still lacked the foresight of a business magnate; after all, he was still just a young man in his twenties.

His experience led him to believe that an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars was an incredible feat, but now he finally realized that for Musk, this amount of money was nothing at all.

Perhaps Musk viewed Lin Yuan's endeavor from beginning to end as nothing more than a routine venture capital investment, and he might have had ulterior motives.

Musk might have simply appreciated Lin Yuan and was willing to throw some money into the venture just for the sake of it.

However, this time, the venture capital investment made a huge profit in Lin Yuan's hands.

Facing the question from the head of the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration of China, Lin Yuan finally had to consider the question he had suppressed deep in his mind and constantly avoided—according to the prior gentleman's agreement, the ownership of the AI Administrator Algorithm belonged to Musk.

Lin Yuan had previously focused all his attention on rectifying the food delivery industry, and he hadn't expected that what was most attention-grabbing now was no longer the transformation of the food delivery industry, but the AI algorithm itself that caused the transformation.

Lin Yuan was like a lumberjack selling timber, but now people were more interested in the axe in his hand.

This naturally made Lin Yuan feel a mix of amusement and frustration, but what was more troublesome was how to answer Director Xia's question—whether Lin Yuan had control over the AI Administrator Algorithm.

Actually, if Lin Yuan were a bit more shameless, he could confidently answer that he indeed had complete control over this algorithm.

Because the algorithm was single-handedly developed by Lin Yuan through his computing system, if he didn't want to provide it, no one could take it away.

Even if the code deployed on Tesla's core servers were copied, it could not be used for purposes other than the food delivery industry without Lin Yuan's adaptation.

And the point that made this algorithm attract global attention was its potential uses beyond the food delivery industry.

Therefore, Lin Yuan actually completely controlled this algorithm.

However, he had a gentleman's agreement with Musk beforehand.

And the most critical thing was that when they made the agreement, they were too impulsive; Musk agreed to help him without asking many questions, and Lin Yuan also felt too awkward to finalize too many cooperation details with him, which led to the current unclear and awkward situation.

Did the AI Administrator Algorithm specifically for the food delivery industry belong to Musk, or did the core AI Administrator Algorithm itself belong to Musk?

Lin Yuan didn't want to deceive himself; he actually knew very well that with Musk's wealth, he wouldn't care about the small profits from the food delivery industry.

What he cared about, of course, was the core AI Administrator Algorithm that originated from the food delivery industry.

So, Lin Yuan actually did something quite foolish.

Just like when he still manually wrote his admission letter after getting into graduate school, he now did something of a much higher level and worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

He was like a famous writer who sold the copyright to his work cheaply; he vaguely promised the ownership of the AI Administrator Algorithm, and he promised it even before the algorithm was developed.

Now, that's really awkward.

Lin Yuan cleared his throat, collected his thoughts, and said, "To be honest, the ownership of this algorithm is indeed not in my hands."

Director Xia quickly followed up, "Are you saying the intellectual property of the algorithm doesn't belong to you?"

"Not exactly; it's very complicated. Mainly, back then, in order to get Tesla's help, I, uh..."

"Senior's meaning is that in order to get Tesla's venture capital, he promised many things, including but not limited to the intellectual property of this algorithm. Is that right?" Zhang Yan interrupted Lin Yuan.

This made Lin Yuan a bit surprised, because she knew all the details about the algorithm; Lin Yuan had hidden nothing from Zhang Yan.

So why was Zhang Yan asking a question she clearly knew the answer to now? The intellectual property of the algorithm had not been explicitly given to Musk; it was just Lin Yuan's verbal gentleman's agreement.

But Lin Yuan, based on his long-standing unspoken understanding with Zhang Yan, simply went along with her words, "Yes, you're right."

Director Xia immediately frowned upon hearing this. "This is exactly what we are worried about. Mr. Lin, let me be frank with you. Last year, the state issued a document that imposed controls on the export of certain high-tech products, including software algorithms.

This document is public, and anyone can look it up.

Therefore, DY's algorithm has always been subject to export controls.

However, if the intellectual property of your algorithm is in the hands of foreign capital, then we will have difficulty controlling it.

As for the habits of foreign capital, I'm sure Mr. Lin has more to say than I do."

Director Xia's implication was: Lin Yuan worked at Tesla, so he should understand the bloodthirsty nature of foreign capital better than anyone.

Director Xia continued, "The high-level leaders above are very hopeful of using AI to promote the upgrading of the manufacturing industry, so as to leverage our advantage as a manufacturing powerhouse, and at the same time promote the development of domestic AI software and hardware support.

Originally, we thought this was a good opportunity.

However, if the intellectual property issue cannot be clarified, then nothing can proceed.

We want to have complete control over the algorithm.

We are not trying to control the source code of the algorithm, nor are we expecting profits from the algorithm; rather, we want to control the process of the algorithm's implementation.

High-tech things are at most tools, and once tools are out of control, it's inevitable that problems will arise.

Especially high-tech tools, if not handled well, can lead to major disasters."

Lin Yuan understood her meaning in one sentence: if the algorithm was in the hands of foreign capital, it would be out of control, and to avoid being at the mercy of others, the authorities would not dare to try to implement it.

All of a sudden, the AI Administrator Algorithm was elevated to a new level, already tied to the upgrading of Dragon Country's manufacturing industry.

Lin Yuan was very conflicted.

Logically speaking, he should betray Musk for the sake of the country at this moment.

However, no matter how much of a scoundrel Musk was, or how many people he exploited, he had never been a scoundrel to Lin Yuan.

If a person doesn't even love his friends, how can he talk about loving the world?

Moreover, this algorithm, for Dragon Country, was not a matter of life and death; it was more of an economic issue.

Lin Yuan really wanted to help his country develop its economy, but he didn't want to betray a friend for it.

Most importantly, Lin Yuan asked himself. If Musk had asked him to sign an agreement regarding the intellectual property of the algorithm back then, he would have signed it without hesitation.

In other words, even though there was no signed agreement regarding intellectual property now, in Lin Yuan's heart, it was already signed.

Lin Yuan didn't hesitate for too long; he had envisioned the worst-case scenario—even if he fell out with Musk in the future, he couldn't deny the agreement just because there was no paper document.

This emotion was somewhat idealistic, but Lin Yuan, coming from humble origins, disliked betraying others' trust.

That would make him unable to have a clear conscience.

Therefore, Lin Yuan made up his mind to find another way.