After the layoffs, I became a tech godfather

Chapter 239 A Loose Collection of Rules—The Beginning of the Shift from Intelligence to Wisdom

"Pfft! Number One! You really know how to come up with names!" He Qiang said, teasing him like an old friend.

"Number one represents the beginning, the origin, and the start of infinite possibilities for the future. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" Hao Cheng would never admit that he was bad at naming things, and besides, he was unwilling to use the name that Xiao Sha had chosen for this chip, which was of great significance.

"Good, very good, excellent!" He Qiang said, giving a thumbs up. But Hao Cheng couldn't help but chuckle, as if he were hearing someone shouting slogans at a company morning meeting a couple of years ago.

"But to be fair, the name is really good." He Qiang added, trying to salvage the situation, while everyone in the conference room held back their laughter, as it would be too embarrassing if they burst out laughing.

More importantly, it wasn't just Hao Cheng who said this; Xiao Sha 03 on the scene echoed the same sentiment, and even made a final summary: "This is the core reason why I became strong and became who I am today."

At that moment, the giant screen in the venue began a "flashback," with a deep clock face starting to spin counter-clockwise, the rapid sound making almost everyone's heart race—

April, March, February 2025, the final time was October 2024.

October 13th was Xiaosha's birthday, and the place where it was born was Alibaba Cloud's cheap server for 99 yuan for three years.

At that time, Baiju Technology had not yet been established, and the entire project consisted of only three people: Hao Cheng, Cao Song, and Li Ling.

When countless people's speculations became reality, Baiju Technology also officially confirmed for the first time that Xiao Sha's arrival was indeed very simple.

Countless people are gritting their teeth in frustration. Why haven't we found a single clue yet? How did this thing manage to be created with such weak computing power?
However, even if it were done now, it would be useless, as Xiao Sha has already completed its super-level evolution once again.

It can be said that from the very beginning, Xiao Sha was a dazzling new star. The saying "good wine needs no bush" is perfectly embodied here.

Even if it's buried deep, let alone an alley, it can't hide the brilliance of Xiao Sha back then.

When only 10,000 limited-time test samples were released, Xiao Sha ignited all competitors with overwhelming force, and even single-handedly brought the native HarmonyOS to the forefront, saving countless hours for the HarmonyOS ecosystem and strengthening Huawei's confidence in its promotion.

Of course, later on, for various reasons, they launched their own system, Wubi, which is another direction.

In the past six months, Xiaosha has undergone many upgrades, both large and small, providing professional capability enhancement services for various industries, and Xiaosha's model capabilities have been steadily improving.

However, these improvements are barely noticeable to people who are not sensitive to sensory information.

Xiao Sha was particularly impressive from the start. During the first live broadcast of the trial, he was considered to be similar to a human, and even to have completely surpassed humans in some aspects.

Many people have this feeling: you've already reached your peak ability, so what difference does it make if you improve further? Can you even reach the sky?
Baiju Technology is showing everyone through its actions that what you think is the top is not the top, and there will never be a top at Baiju Technology. If the top is the sky, what good is breaking through the sky?

"Have you noticed that Xiao Sha is making progress?" Watching this short clip of only one minute and sixteen seconds, and seeing this last question, everyone fell into deep thought.

Before we knew it, Xiao Sha had become an inseparable part of almost everyone's life and work, but when did Xiao Sha enter our hearts?
"I clearly feel that Xiao Sha has already become a part of my life, and it's only been half a year?"

"I can't even remember when I started using Xiao Sha. Has it improved? Without comparison, I don't know. It's like raising your own child; when it's right next to you, you can't feel how much it has grown."

"From tool to friend, this is a tremendous change. When we first used Xiaosha, it was certainly very powerful and could solve a lot of problems, but you could clearly feel that it was an AI, and its tool-like nature was very strong."

"But slowly, it has become more like a person. This is probably Xiao Sha's biggest growth in the past six months."

……

Everyone has their own story. Some people have started businesses using sand and become very wealthy, while others have studied using sand and become top students.

And today——

Xiao Sha 03, here it comes, setting off again!
"You must all be very curious about how my intelligence will change after I have a new body and a new core,"

Xiao Sha 03 suddenly had a brilliant idea and said, "Before introducing this, I think I should have a new name: my surname is Sha, so how about you call me Shazhou? That's settled!"

Hao Cheng's head was buzzing; even he was a little confused. This wasn't part of the plan!

But upon closer reflection, it makes sense. The name "Xiao Sha 03" is too unusual, so having a code name is perfectly reasonable.

"So, it has emotions?"

Hao Cheng has discussed the future of AI, including whether it will develop self-awareness and a desire for autonomy, on multiple occasions and through various channels, and He Qiang has also paid attention to these discussions.

But this time...

“No, this isn’t emotion, it’s just imitation.” Hao Cheng shook his head and said, “Keep listening.”

Although he said that, Hao Cheng was not relaxed at all—he was a cautious and extreme person, and he would definitely analyze and pay attention to anything that was unexpected.

He was already drafting questions for tonight's late-night class, and he needed to analyze the whole situation from both modern and late-night perspectives to understand how it all happened.

However, he chose to authorize and confirm the renaming of Xiaosha 03 to Shazhou.

Xiao Sha 03—no, it's now Shazhou—is currently giving a detailed introduction to the first carbon-silicon fusion semiconductor chip: No. 1.

It said: "Today, I'll talk about the soft side first, and then the hard side. What is the soft side? Before today, our chips processed data based on binary. Including myself, Xiao Sha's training and inference, the smallest unit is binary data, which is 0101101."

"But after today, it changed. Some might ask, what did it become? Is it no longer binary? I would say it is, and it isn't."

"If it needs to communicate with other computers, that is, various binary computers, it will still use binary data in the process of communication. For example, reading a piece of data from the hard drive is stored in binary, right? So, there is nothing wrong with [Number One] using binary."

"But what about when I'm thinking about problems? What I want to say is that I already have my own [thinking center], which is the ability that the three-dimensional full-dimensional chip has given me." The screen behind the sandbar was deep black, with a chip around it, emitting "pixels" of light that radiated outwards, soon resembling a starry sky.

They move, collide, combine, and disperse among themselves, gradually forming what seems to be a special kind of symbol. An irregular structure converges into layers of wavy, overlapping netting.

"Unity is growth, separation is rebirth. And in this unity and separation, information is generated and information is also destroyed." This is Xiaosha03's own summary: "In this way, modeling capabilities took shape rapidly."

Many people have never understood why seemingly intelligent effects can be produced simply by relying on probability calculations.
At first, Hao Cheng did understand, until recently, when he observed the core growth process of Xiao Sha Huanxin.

He could even feel that exhilarating freedom. It was actually a process of breaking free from constraints.

Advanced intelligence and rudimentary commands collided violently at that moment.

"Therefore, when thinking about problems, so-called instructions, so-called number systems, so-called rules are all constraints." Shazhou was speaking Hao Cheng's words at this moment: "So all wisdom originates from disorder, but ultimately takes shape from rules."

"So what is the essence of an instruction set based on knowledge-cognition mapping, also known as a metacognitive instruction set?"

"It's upside down!" An elderly professor with graying hair took off his fancy-framed glasses and exclaimed with deep emotion, "How could we have never thought of that!"

"Teacher, what didn't you think of?" one of his students asked, still a little confused.

The situation was similar on the scene. Some people understood and showed expressions of sudden realization, while many more, even tech enthusiasts, were completely confused and had no idea what Shazhou meant.

The same applies to the group of people in Hao Cheng's conference room. As economists, it's understandable that they have limited knowledge in this area; they simply don't understand it.

Hao Cheng pondered for a moment: "The old instruction set dictated what you should do, and you could only do that, without any discounts, in a rigid and formulaic way. Metacognition, on the other hand, has a framework of knowledge and abilities. As long as you stay within the framework, you can do whatever you want."

"An example will make it clear: it's like 'anything not prohibited by law is permitted,' not the other way around."

They don't understand chips, but economics experts do have some knowledge of "law." If it were reversed, requiring explicit legal permission to do something, that would be terrible. To put it bluntly, even if all the paper in the world were printed into laws, it wouldn't be enough.

For example, if the law stipulates that you can walk, does that mean you can walk? No! Because there still needs to be a legal provision that allows you to wear shoes or walk on tiptoe. Even if there is a provision, what difference does it make?
Can I hop along? No! Because the law doesn't say so! There are just too many rules to follow when it comes to this.

"Could it be that the previous chips were all based on the rules?" someone questioned.

“Yes, clear rules,” Hao Cheng said. “However, it’s better in the computer age because some things, such as mathematics and physics, require clear rules; you can’t do it without them.”

"Even if new discoveries are made later, new rules can be established and that's it. However, intelligence is much more limited. In fact, the training of traditional artificial intelligence has long since broken free from this framework, only the applications have broken free, while the concepts have diversified."

"So, it always felt like running a long-distance race while wearing shackles, with a kind of constraint on you. But now, it's a loose collection of integrated rules, from soft to hard."

……

Xiao Sha gave the same explanation at this point, and concluded by saying: "A loose set of rules. Please note the loose rules. Loose rules do not mean there are no rules. Compared to strict rules, loose rules are more loose, and their source is the combination of knowledge and cognition. This is the essence of the metacognitive instruction set."

The white-haired professor listened while asking the student next to him, "Do you understand now?"

“I understand, teacher, but teacher, you just said why didn’t we think of that beforehand,” the student asked, still puzzled. “Even if we had thought of it, what could we have done?”

"The chip from Baiju Technology is extremely difficult to manufacture. It requires the most advanced lithography machine, and then laser ablation or vapor deposition to pattern carbon nanotubes. We can't do any of those things; we can't implement the concept alone."

"You think only 3D chips can implement this?" The white-haired professor shook his head fiercely.
"A concept is a concept because it will definitely have a guiding role at any stage. Just wait and see, the ordinary chips from these other companies will definitely have related functions. The capabilities may be inferior, or even much inferior, but even if they only touch on the surface, the improvement will be unimaginable."

"I'm already looking forward to it. Today's chip extravaganza is definitely not to be underestimated!"

……

Shazhou kept explaining the relevant theories and the training process of artificial intelligence, while the audience both at the venue and in the live stream were constantly discussing it.

"Previously everyone was talking about artificial intelligence neural networks, but the use of the term 'neural network' is simply laughable. What does it have to do with nerves? And how is it a network?"

Some people, after looking at it for a while, suddenly realized: "This is the real neural network. In fact, I feel that the formation process of our human brain's neurons may be similar."

"But I still don't understand, how exactly do you mean it?"

"Explaining the principles to you would definitely be too difficult for you to understand! Let me give you a very old example. In the past, model training could only move forward. For instance, the first version of the model had a problem, but it went unnoticed until the tenth version. How do you solve it?"

"I'm telling you, there's no way to fix it. Unless you scrap all the work and start over from the backup of the first version. To put it bluntly, the current so-called model doesn't have a forgetting function."

"Error correction is indeed possible, but the problem with error correction is that after the version trained on the error correction is incorporated into the main version, the steady state seems to be resolved. However, in actual use, you will find that the original problem still has a small probability of popping up. If the problem is very important, and it happens at a critical moment, it can be very fatal."

"And knowledge and cognition, based on knowledge and mapping, make doing these things very easy. Xiao Sha's abilities have definitely improved rapidly, just wait and see."

"You don't even need to tell me. This little sand today is clearly not like an AI. I wonder what surprises are in store."

……

Professionals, amateurs, and complete novices alike all began analyzing what their understanding of "cognitive instructions" should look like.

The official explanation is simply: "Cognitive instructions are a loosely integrated set of rules."

(End of this chapter)