What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 584 Reputation
The team from Baidu extended the closed-door discussions on autonomous driving research and development in Lingang by another day.

Just as Andrew Ng has given this place a high evaluation, people are also very curious about Baidu's current research approach, after all, it is the largest company in China that is currently investing the most.

Others may not know Baidu's technical capabilities, but Yu Kai, who has already started his own business, knows them best.

He not only knew this, but also dug out Yu Yinan, who was in charge of Baidu's autonomous driving algorithm, and now he also has a strong interest in his old friend Andrew Ng.

However, Yu Kai felt that Lingang Carbon Silicon probably also had designs on Andrew Ng, making them a formidable rival in poaching him.

On July 9th, Yu Kai personally escorted Andrew Ng to the airport. Just as Ng was about to board the plane, he finally asked the question that had been on his mind: "Old Wu, did President Yu try to poach you? Are you planning to go to Silicon Carbon?"

Andrew Ng was baffled: "No, Mr. Yu has never talked to me about this."

Yu Kai smiled and said, "Old Wu, Dr. Wu, what's wrong with our relationship? What's so hard about saying this?"

Andrew Ng said helplessly, "Really, no!"

"Alright, alright, since President Yu didn't poach you, then..." Yu Kai didn't dwell on the matter and formally extended his invitation, "If you're unhappy at Baidu, you can come to Horizon Robotics in the future, and we can conquer the world together!"

Andrew Ng couldn't help but punch Yu Kai on the shoulder: "You tricked me into joining Baidu, and now you want to poach me from your startup??"

Yu Kai chuckled and said, "It all depends on your own wishes. Think about it, last year's domestic environment was actually the best environment for Baidu."

Andrew Ng countered, "And what about the best environment this year?"

Yu Kai shrugged, without answering the question.

“Baidu is actually alright, it’s just that…” Andrew Ng said to his friends in private, “President Li is a good person in other ways, but he loves to hear nice things. Including that group-buying Nuomi, now that I see that the numbers those people reported last year were all fake, just to make him happy. I think President Yu is quite down-to-earth.”

Yu Kai laughed and said, "No one is perfect. All sorts of problems will arise after spending a long time together."

Andrew Ng thought this was a pointed remark and asked curiously, "What are Mr. Yu's shortcomings?"

“Uh…” Yu Kai thought for a moment, but couldn’t think of any shortcomings. In the end, he could only reluctantly say, “President Yu is a good person, but he still needs time to accumulate experience. When he can scale up the company, that will be fine.”

Both companies in Lingang have been rumored to be going public, but no concrete action has been taken.

Andrew Ng nodded in agreement: “The atmosphere here in Lingang is good. It’s not too commercialized. I’m not saying commercialization is bad, but for technologies that can’t be implemented in a short time, a research atmosphere is needed. If I had to say, the communication here is good, but it’s also a bit scattered. It’s not that there’s no center for open source. Silicon carbon is only in the prototype stage now. If we really want to achieve results, we need huge investment.”

He was impressed by what he saw and heard during his brief visit to Lingang, as well as by the progress of autonomous driving research and development: "After all, the implementation of autonomous driving is a systematic project."

To achieve results in a systematic project, systematic work and systematic investment are naturally required.

The potential of Lingang still needs to be observed for its long-term effects.

Yu Kai smiled slightly and replied, "Aren't your expectations of President Yu too high?"

Upon seeing the boarding notice, Andrew Ng extended his right hand and shook hands with his old friend: "How can we drive greater progress without setting high standards? President Yu is truly deserving."

He turned and boarded a flight back to Beijing. The development of autonomous driving was destined to be difficult and not optimistic, but the efforts of like-minded people could indeed bring more hope.

Andrew Ng temporarily put aside his work and returned to Beijing without resting, so as not to overlook any issues.

However, in the evening, Wang Jin, a colleague who had gone to Lingang with him, intentionally or unintentionally approached Andrew Ng and said, "Hey, once our autonomous driving business unit is established, the investment will definitely continue to increase."

Andrew Ng grunted an "Mmm" without looking up.

Seeing this, Wang Jin implied, "Therefore, Baidu is still the most suitable company in China. I think that internet companies like ours are more suitable to empower the future of autonomous driving."

Andrew Ng finally looked up, puzzled, and asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"Ahem, Mr. Li just asked me," Wang Jin whispered. "I didn't say you had any conversation with Mr. Yu." Andrew Ng chuckled, "Mr. Yu wasn't involved. We just had dinner together tonight, didn't we?"

Wang Jin nodded repeatedly: "Yes, that's right."

Before Andrew Ng could even feel helpless, he saw Li Yanhong wander into her office, and Wang Jin, seeing this, gave her a wink and left on his own.

Li Yanhong chatted with a smile for a few minutes, then suddenly asked with a smile, "Dr. Wu, how did President Yu recruit you? What kind of sincere conditions did he offer?"

Meeting Mr. Li's gaze, Andrew Ng sighed unconsciously. Why did everyone think that Mr. Yu would poach him?
He shook his head: "President Yu didn't poach me. He barely showed up. We just chatted during dinner, but we didn't talk about this."

Li Yanhong feigned surprise: "Really? It's alright, Dr. Wu. The fact that President Yu is recruiting you shows that he understands your value. I think the company should put up the autonomous driving business unit in the fourth quarter, and the relevant positions and benefits should be adjusted."

His meaning was quite clear: whatever price Yu Xing asked for, Baidu could match.

Andrew Ng was starting to find it a bit funny: "President Li, President Yu really didn't poach me, this... why would you think that?"

Li Yanhong was suspicious, but said seriously, "President Yu is quite something. He even managed to poach Liu Chiping from Tencent. I'm afraid he might bewitch our chief scientist. Dr. Wu, you can make any requests you have for the company."

After a few seconds of silence, Andrew Ng said, "Mr. Li, since you put it that way, I actually really hope that Mr. Wang can open up more data and resources to our research institute. There has been a lack of progress in this regard."

Li Yanhong didn't expect him to actually bring it up like that to her face.

Andrew Ng joined Baidu last year as chief scientist, while Vice President Wang Haifeng joined Baidu in 2010. He is more of a local figure and controls Baidu's core data and resources.

In addition, Yu Kai was previously in charge of Baidu's Deep Learning Research Institute, and Wang Haifeng was considered his second-in-command, but Andrew Ng took over the former's position.

Wang Haifeng is also exploring deep learning, specifically its commercial applications, but he doesn't share his resources and data with Andrew Ng.

Baidu attaches great importance to AI, but the two factions within the company are completely unable to complement each other.

Considering Yu Xing's potential influence on Andrew Ng, Li Yanhong briefly thought for a moment and then promised, "Dr. Wu, I will coordinate with President Wang. Let's all work together to make Baidu lead this wave of deep learning in China."

Andrew Ng smiled and suddenly realized that the existence of an external threat was not necessarily a bad thing.

Hmm, perhaps this is what Mr. Yu meant by healthy competition.

……

Yu Kai did not leave Lingang immediately after the closed-door meeting. Instead, with the mindset of "why not take advantage of it," he directly consulted with President Yu about the problems he had encountered since starting his business, and truly benefited greatly from the other party's answers.

Finally, he mentioned Andrew Ng's assessment that the research in Lingang was rather scattered.

“Yes, Dr. Wu’s assessment is quite accurate.” Yu Xing showed no dissatisfaction, but instead smiled and said, “Baidu has very strong technical capabilities and talent. If they are really determined to develop AI, they will at least not fall behind the BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) group.”

Whether it's Horizon Robotics, Silicon Carbon, or other startups, many of their employees come from Baidu.

If that were to happen, perhaps Baidu could usher in a new era of Open AI or DeepSeek in China.

However, it cannot be opened.

Yu Kai emphasized, "Money, President Yu, we still need to invest money, we need to pour money in. Look at Dr. Wu's vision. Your silicon carbon business is still short of money. If we have money, Dr. Wu might come!"

Yu Xing shook his head and said, "It's not just about money. Hardware takes time, theory takes time. Dr. Wu is right, this is a systemic project, not something that can be done by one or two people. It requires progress in all aspects. As for money..."

He smiled and said, "As for money, we can just go public."

(End of this chapter)