Lin Yuan's doubts

Lin Yuan had intended to confront Musk and demand an explanation, but it felt like punching cotton.

If the other party had simply tried to scheme against him for profit, Lin Yuan would have retaliated without a second thought. But Lin Yuan always felt that Musk might have a deeper reason.

Why did he insist on making OpenAI open source again? Lin Yuan pondered this question in his mind.

Regarding AI, Lin Yuan had a feeling that the deeper he delved, the more confused he became.

Under the current logic of blindly stacking computing power, Lin Yuan always felt it wasn't the right path. After all, the human brain only consumes about 20W of power, yet AI language models costing tens of billions of dollars couldn't even reach human brain intelligence.

So, Lin Yuan instinctively felt that the current development path for AI might be wrong.

Since even the development path might be wrong, why keep it closed source? This should be the reason for Musk's insistence.

Because the mountain before them was so high that its peak was out of sight, it was a time that required all of humanity to work together. How could they adopt the business model of selling licenses like the Windows system at such a time?

Lin Yuan also felt that the ideas of Bill Gates and those people were simply... speechless.

Piracy? Expanding the market share of their AI language model by tacitly allowing piracy. This was simply insane. The premise for this to work was that their own product had to be dominant.

But in today's rapidly iterating AI field, who knew when a new idea or technical route would emerge from some obscure corner? By then, no one would be willing to use it even if it were free.

What Lin Yuan understood least was, since OpenAI was almost out of Musk's control, why didn't he just start anew? Since he could found OpenAI, he could also found a new, true OpenAI.

With Musk's current reputation on the global internet, he wouldn't need much startup capital; he could completely rely on his popularity to rally support.

Take Lin Yuan, for example; even if he was schemed against by Musk, as long as that guy truly started anew and, from the beginning, set strict legal provisions to ensure the open-source route could never be changed, Lin Yuan would still be willing to support him out of his own pocket.

Because for someone like Lin Yuan, money was already enough. In the foreseeable future, all kinds of enjoyment humanity could imagine were within his grasp. So what lingering thoughts remained in his heart? It was nothing more than wanting to contribute to the advancement of human society in his lifetime.

Lin Yuan believed this was the hidden wish in the heart of every wealthy person who still harbored good intentions.

Lin Yuan really wanted to ask Musk these questions face-to-face, but he had just almost severed ties with the other party, and he couldn't bring himself to do such a spineless thing at this moment.

So he had no choice but to ask Zhang Yan this question.

"Xiaozhang, why do you think someone like Musk wants to enter politics? He could completely forge his own path in technology. I really don't understand, just to make OpenAI open source again, he had to scheme against me. Why didn't he just start anew?

Compared to the anger of being disgusted by him, the doubt in my heart is even greater now."

Zhang Yan didn't think much, "If you can't understand a certain problem by following a certain path, then the path you are following must be wrong to begin with."

Lin Yuan realized something, "Does that mean Musk originally wanted to enter politics? Was the persona of a tech mogul just for this step today? What I thought was the goal was merely his means?"

"Hard to say. I'm not very knowledgeable about technology. If Musk only used technology as a stepping stone, then he wouldn't have truly put too much effort into it."

Lin Yuan thought for a moment, then immediately dismissed his recent idea.

Because with a little understanding, one would find that Musk's major decisions have always revolved around emerging fields with no clear path forward. One such instance could be interpreted as speculative adventure, but consistently doing so cannot deny that he is truly dedicated to technology.

"But since he is dedicated to technology, why doesn't he start anew? Why does he spend all his time with those people at Mar-a-Lago? Look at me, I don't like entering the system. What's wrong with being relaxed and free?"

Zhang Yan joked, "If you were in the system, your lifestyle alone wouldn't pass muster."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan suddenly thought of Xia Ye, "I wonder how Xia Ye is doing. Sigh, when can we return to the days of the four of us sitting around a table?"

"Tsk tsk~~" Zhang Yan feigned disdain, "Indeed, a hypocritical facade, saying such things so righteously. Decades ago, you would have been shot for this."

"Stop it, I'm still thinking." Lin Yuan didn't want to get into the topic of women being jealous.

Based on Musk's public image, and my feelings after interacting with him, I don't think he's a timid person. Look at his conduct; he's not someone who endures hardship in silence. So why is he so... so twisted?

If it were me, I would raise my arms and shout: 'AI practitioners of the world, unite and overthrow those new evil dragons at Microsoft!' Confront them head-on! Why bother with earnest persuasion and even find someone to take the blame, forcing OpenAI to go back to open source?

"Heh~~" Zhang Yan scoffed at this, "You're so noble. My dear Senior Brother, can you please use your brain and think properly? Anything that looks unreasonable at first glance must have something underneath that you don't know about."

"Something I don't know?" Lin Yuan pondered for a moment, "But I don't think Musk needs to hide anything from me regarding this matter. And he has always appreciated me, constantly asking me to come and work with him.

He couldn't possibly be deceiving me, could he?

When I confronted him earlier, he even asked me to consider joining his Efficiency Department as an assistant minister.

He shouldn't need to deceive me about something like this. I see no benefit for him in doing so..."

Zhang Yan let Lin Yuan ramble for a while. Only after he quieted down did she slowly speak, "You're quite in demand. The Efficiency Department on The Other Shore is now known as the 'Western Factory,' the most powerful department.

If you were to become an assistant minister, you would indeed be entering the political arena of The Other Shore.

Spanning the tech and political worlds, Musk is over 50 now, you're only 25, his eldest son is a failure, and his younger sons are too young. You'd be perfectly suited to be his successor. From then on, you'd rise rapidly, and if you ever returned for a state visit, my father wouldn't even be high enough in rank to shake your hand.

Wait, no, if you really went there, you wouldn't need to find me anymore. I wouldn't be able to go with you."

"Me?" Lin Yuan feigned surprise, "What are you talking about? That place on The Other Shore has no political rules whatsoever. How dare I go? Even presidents can get their heads bashed in, and there are countless other powerful figures who've met similar fates. I'm not going."

Zhang Yan said indifferently, "Is that the only reason you're not going?"

"Hmm~~, primarily it's because I love the land that gave birth to me and raised me."

"Think again."

"What else is there?"

"Me? Am I not in your considerations?"

"Alright," Lin Yuan was speechless again, "Indeed, women. No matter how smart a woman is, she is still a woman. Your world always revolves around 'me' as the starting point."

"Tch~~," Zhang Yan tilted her head, "Hmph, I'm not going to tease you anymore. Let's get back to business. Let's analyze why Musk doesn't start anew in the AI field."

"You have the answer?"

"No answer. But I know answers are derived through analysis."

Lin Yuan was then pulled by Zhang Yan into the bedroom, where the two intended to analyze it carefully.

It must be said, when it came to such sociological problems, Lin Yuan truly was no match for Zhang Yan.