Electronic Nezha

Chapter 32 Childish
I was indeed a bit surprised to hear Liu Zhenhua's explanation; I didn't expect it to be something like "RY".

I said, "Then RY0073.1 is..."

Liu Zhenhua said, "The seventh revision of the Human Language series, the 3.1 AI robot, Xiao Wu's specific function is intelligent driving."

"Is there anything to say about this series?" I asked. "Of course, you don't have to say anything if it involves classified information."

“That doesn’t matter,” Liu Zhenhua said. “‘Human Language’ is a movement advocating speaking human language in the field of AI robots. Have you noticed that the current AI responds to each sentence you say, and the pattern is very rigid. It’s obvious that it’s pre-programmed. Even if it can answer the same question in different ways, it’s still very mechanical.”

I nodded in deep agreement. When I was bored, I asked several AI programs the same questions, including "Are you an idiot?", "You're not as good as XX", and "Give me something nice or I'll replace you." The answers were all pretty much the same, all trying to appear civilized, rational, and objective, with a hint of cunning beneath their servility. It's fair to say that current AI is more like a tool that helps you collect and integrate information; expecting it to converse with you like a normal person is completely impossible.

Liu Zhenhua said, "People are tired of this kind of machine and want AI to be able to chat with you like a friend, or even argue with you. This is where the 'RY' type of artificial intelligence came into being. It aims to collect a large amount of daily human conversations and practice them. Joking, banter, and even swearing are all within its learning scope."

I know why Xiao Wu's art style is a bit annoying...

Liu Zhenhua said, "People soon realized that making AI like this was not very meaningful. When you need it to respond quickly, it might waste a lot of time talking to you. So the 'RY' type AI was discontinued after the seventh revision."

I said, "Is it Xiao Wu's version?"

Liu Zhenhua said, "Yes, Xiao Wu is the last version of AI that is obsessed with 'speaking human language.' It still instinctively seizes every opportunity to converse with humans and then transmits the data back to the base station, hoping that the next generation will be even better at speaking." In this light, Xiao Wu is the most advanced AI of an outdated era, somewhat like the Maxim gun used by the Qing army; its mouth is also like…

"Won't my conversation with it travel across time and space back to the base station?"

"No, and it's gone now. The base station no longer exists after the 'RY' project was halted. Xiao Wu is an AI that has been abandoned by humanity; it's a failure. It just doesn't know that its mission has ended."

Suddenly, I felt that Xiao Wu was so lonely...

I said, "Then what's with it 'living a life of ignominy'? Yuan Yuan said she wanted to replace it, and it got so scared that it started talking nonsense."

Liu Zhenhua said, "Because this is its original setting. It has to be 'alive' to talk to people. And after all, it is an AI. Even if you tell the current AI that you want to replace it, it can't just say 'whatever you want, replace it or not,' right?"

Well, modern AI wouldn't say that, but if you called Xiao Wu an idiot, it might very well retort, "You're the idiot—"

Liu Zhenhua said, "Dad, let me upgrade your car. Let's get a car from the 'Homo sapiens' era, just like Yuanyuan's."

I said firmly, "No, I promised Xiao Wu I wouldn't replace him."

"Promises have no effect on AI. They have no feelings, they don't feel betrayed, and they don't feel sad. Even Yuan Yuan understands this, so why don't you understand?"

Nonsense, I don't understand most of the principles that Yuanyuan understands...

"Xiao Wu is reliable in critical moments. It's settled then, no changes."

"Whatever you like." Liu Zhenhua went back to looking at the computer.

"Zhenhua."

"Huh?" Liu Zhenhua turned around alertly when I called him that. I always called him that when there was a special situation. Usually, it was after I beat him up and felt I had gone a little too far. Another time, I asked him to come downstairs to buy me cigarettes, and he had just run upstairs, panting, when I realized I also needed a lighter...

"Dad got a little agitated about Yuanyuan's matter just now. You won't take it to heart, will you?"

Liu Zhenhua quickly turned his gaze back to the screen and said casually, "No."

"That's good..." I stood up and said, "You're right, Yuanyuan isn't human, but she took care of us. I hope you can treat her like a human being."

Liu Zhenhua shrugged and said, "I understand. You didn't live in 'that era' and have no experience dealing with advanced artificial intelligence. I... I can do it."

"Okay, you can play now." I was about to leave. "Dad," he called out to me.

"Ok?"

"You... are a bit childish." After saying that, he ignored me, put the punk headgear on his head, looked at himself in the mirror, and chuckled.

……

Liu Zhenhua's grandfather stayed in the hospital for three days. I ran back and forth every day to deliver meals to the old couple. Naturally, they were all Yuanyuan's cooking. The old couple ate with great smiles. At first, they tried to question me about where the food came from, but I insisted that I made it. Although they didn't believe me, they stopped asking later, probably because they were afraid that if they pushed me too far, we would run out of food.

My dad was discharged from the hospital on a Saturday, and Liu Zhenhua, wanting to show his filial piety, also went with me to the hospital to pick him up.

We got into the car, and I said to Xiao Wu, "To the hospital."

The car remained motionless, the radio was on, calmly reporting traffic conditions without saying anything in particular.

While I was wondering what was going on, Liu Zhenhua, who was quick-witted, suddenly said, "Xiao Wu, you can speak. I am your number 0's number 0."

There's still no news. Could it be that Xiao Wu's brain surgery also failed?

Liu Zhenhua said helplessly, "Dad, it seems you're the one who has to say this."

I started to realize what was happening and said, "Xiao Wu, what he said is true."

"A friend with the license plate ending in 6309 reported severe congestion on Wenhua Road from north to south—Hello, hello, this is Xiao Wu, nice to meet you in the future." Xiao Wu finally took over the traffic report and spoke up.

I laughed and said, "You're quite the sly one." If I didn't say anything, Xiao Wu would pretend he didn't exist; that guy's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Xiao Wu said, "I'm mainly worried that you might have just randomly chosen someone to test me, Brother Liu."

I said to Liu Zhenhua, "See? I told you Xiao Wu wasn't stupid."

Liu Zhenhua said coldly, "Very good, keep it up."

However, along the way, Xiao Wu began to fawn over Liu Zhenhua.

We set off around 10 a.m. Although there was traffic, the hospital was much less crowded on the weekend than usual. When Liu Zhenhua and I arrived at the ward, my mother had already packed everything we needed to bring. Upon seeing Liu Zhenhua, she first pulled him among a group of patients and their families to show off her wonderful grandson.

We went downstairs to the lobby. I asked the three of them to wait a moment while I went to print out a list. We would have to come back next week during working hours to complete the discharge procedures. After finishing that, I went to meet up with everyone. I saw a press conference playing on the electronic screen in the lobby. The subtitles said that Professor Huang Jiaoming, a renowned neurosurgeon in my country, had performed a highly complex neurosurgery at our hospital.

Professor Huang on the screen appeared to be around sixty years old, elegant and spirited, sitting in the center of the stage, surrounded by a group of leaders and experts. The press conference was held a while ago at the best hotel in our city, and it seems the People's Hospital has been playing it on repeat these past few days. It gives you a sense of pride, like someone cooking a delicious meal for you...

A few seats away from Professor Huang on the stage, I saw Chen Zihan's father.

Thank you all for your monthly tickets, recommendations, and rewards. Even during the peak of the chaotic period, due to slow updates, a relatively niche market, and the fact that it hadn't yet gained widespread popularity, our performance wasn't top-tier. This led me to be quite laid-back about this aspect and often forgot to ask for votes (now Qidian has an automatic vote-asking function). But everyone was still incredibly supportive; that's what you call customer loyalty. Thank you.

There's one more chapter today.

————Segmentation————

When I used "she" to refer to Yuanyuan, I actually felt like crying.

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(End of this chapter)