Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 300 Internet Conference, Invitation from Jack Ma and Pony Ma

December 4th, Wuzhen.

After the first day of the expo and the second day of the plenary session, the third day of the Internet Conference finally saw discussions about the future development path of the industry.

Even in a suit, Chen Xiu's youthful spirit was hard to conceal, making her stand out somewhat among the group of middle-aged people.

The people around him mostly looked at him with kindness and friendliness; no one would really treat him as an unrelated young man.

Many of them brought their projects and wanted to ask Chen Xiu for 5 minutes, but they were often stopped by the security guards of the conference before they even got close.

Chen Xiu and her colleague Zhang Yiming arrived at the Pillow Water Hall and heard a presentation on the development of artificial intelligence. The speaker on stage was none other than Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

"...Six months ago, when the AlphaGo Go competition was held in Wuzhen, we considered it a landmark event in the development of AI."

"...Google is also transforming, from mobile to AI. We have now moved to the AI ​​stage. In the past, people adapted to computers. In the future, computers will adapt to people."

"Computing will be ubiquitous and will take the form of language, vision, and other technologies. These changes will allow the digital economy to surpass the internet and become the next stage of development."

After listening to Sundar Pichai's speech, Chen Xiu clapped along with the people around her while silently reflecting on her thoughts.

The era when AI truly became familiar to ordinary users was probably 22 years after the end of the pandemic, when ChatGPT emerged.

Many people use ChatGPT as a tool for researching information, and some use it to write code, but these functions are not perfect. Hardware limitations also make the AI ​​seem less intelligent.

People outside the industry generally think that ChatGPT suddenly appeared, but the concept of AI has actually existed for a long time, and many internet companies have officially announced their entry into the AI ​​field this year...

"Hey Xiu, what do you think of AI?"

Chen Xiu turned her head and glanced at Zhang Yiming. Seeing that his eyes were fixed ahead and his mouth was moving slightly, she understood that he was inviting her to chat privately.

Moving closer to Zhang Yiming, Chen Xiu watched Ma Yun slowly walk onto the stage and whispered, "Are you interested?"

"Baidu and Tencent have already announced their involvement in AI. Robin Li even said that AI is the future development direction of Baidu, and they are prepared to invest tens of billions of yuan in it..."

“He seemed to have said something similar when he was doing group buying on glutinous rice.”

"You don't think it's a good idea?"

"I don't know, but it's certain that AI research and development is very expensive. Does ByteDance have enough funds to burn through?"

Chen Xiu glanced at Zhang Yiming, her meaning all too clear.

Zhang Yiming's originally longing gaze instantly cleared after hearing this soul-searching question.

"Well, ByteDance definitely can't handle AI right now, I mean in the future."

"We'll talk about it later!"

"What if someone else beats it to it?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Current chips don't even have enough computing power, and the basic equipment doesn't support them. What's the point of rushing to be first?"

When it comes to chip computing power, Chen Xiu suddenly thought of Nvidia.

It seems that this company took off like a rocket after AI gained momentum.

At this stage, the winds haven't yet blown in, so there's no rush to build a position. We can wait until we've capitalized on the Tesla boom, accumulate the appreciated shares, and then move on to Nvidia.

Thinking of this, Chen Xiu shook her head at Zhang Yiming, signaling him not to distract her anymore.

Ma Yun, who was giving a speech on stage, still displayed his deceptive nature. The content of his speech was all about mysterious concepts such as the soul, faith, and self-confidence, but there was nothing substantial about it. The audience just wanted to doze off.

When the morning sharing session ended and it was lunch break, Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming were discussing what to eat when the conman Ma Yun came over.

"Mr. Chen, Mr. Zhang, do you have any plans for later?"

"Uh, no..."

Zhang Yiming looked at Chen Xiu, his eyes asking if he had an appointment with Ma Yun.

Chen Xiu glanced back at him and said directly, "Mr. Ma, Mr. Zhang and I are just about to have lunch."

"What a coincidence, I'm going to eat too. Want to go together?"

"I don't care, it's up to Mr. Zhang to decide."

"of course can."

Zhang Yiming smiled shyly, already understanding why Chen Xiu hadn't made an appointment with Ma Yun.
Chen Xiu was also wondering about Ma Yun's intentions, but since this conman didn't speak up, he couldn't guess.

The three of them, along with a few assistants, arrived at the entrance of the Wuzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. In order not to delay their afternoon business, they planned to find a place to eat nearby.

Once outside the gate, Ma Yun, who had already prepared her words, went to chat with the two of them.

"Actually, I've wanted to invite you guys to dinner for a while, but I was busy the past few days and had to deal with a few engagements that I couldn't cancel. Today I'm a little freer."

"I understand." *2
Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming gave casual replies, but they both thought the same thing: Ma Yun was about to start showing off.

However, instead of continuing to expand on the topics discussed at the dinners of the previous two days as they had anticipated, this conman brought up the content of the sharing session earlier with great interest.

"Mr. Chen, are you optimistic about AI?"

"..." Chen Xiu glanced at Ma Yun, hesitated for a moment, and then repeated what she had just said to Zhang Yiming inside.

"AI will be a hot topic in the future, but no one is sure what form it will take."

"Intelligent search, autonomous driving, intelligent voice chat... these are all directions of current development."

"So, Mr. Ma believes that the future of AI will still rely on training large-scale model data?"

"Currently, cloud computing is also a direction of AI, but I think Douyin's big data algorithm push is closer to the meaning of AI..."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiu paused for a moment, and a glint of light flashed in the eyes of Zhang Yiming, who was standing next to him.

The two had already suspected that Ma Yun's sudden visit wasn't just for a meal, but they hadn't guessed his true intentions.

Now, hearing the other party link AI to Douyin, Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming instantly understood the purpose of this big swindler.

Ma Yun's next sentence confirmed their guess.

“When I was compiling the backend data for the Double Eleven event last month, I noticed that the transaction volume of Taobao stores through Douyin shopping carts exceeded 50 billion yuan, which is a significant growth rate.”

"This shows that the barriers between live streaming and e-commerce are not as big as we imagine. There are almost no barriers between their communities, and many users will even come to Taobao to find products based on the products shown in short videos."

"Based on this situation, I think Taobao and Douyin might be able to reach a closer cooperation. Mr. Chen, Mr. Zhang, do you have any plans to launch Douyin's next round of financing?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiu's expression changed slightly as he pondered.

Zhang Yiming simply smiled and remained silent, but in his heart he was also thinking about how to reject Ma Yun's investment suggestion.

Douyin plans to pursue an e-commerce strategy, which is already a confirmed strategic development path. If Alibaba invests in Douyin, the two paths will clash, inevitably causing some obstacles in the future.

Just as Ma Yun was smiling and waiting for their answer, Chen Xiu's eyes suddenly lit up, and she greeted them warmly to the side.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Ma!"

"Ok?"

"Ok??"

Ma Yun and Zhang Yiming were both taken aback, thinking: "Boss Ma is here, who are you calling?"

Clearly, there is more than just one Mr. Ma here.

After Chen Xiu shouted, about 30 meters away, a bespectacled Mr. Ma, who also had several assistants and looked very refined, slowly approached the three of them.

Upon seeing who it was, Ma Yun's smile froze. He thought to himself: I'm afraid I won't be able to discuss Douyin's investment with these two today!
After attending the morning meeting, Pony Ma was planning to find a place to eat when he suddenly heard a familiar voice calling out to him, but he couldn't remember whose voice it was.

When he looked in the direction of the sound, the first person he saw was Ma Yun, after all, she was quite good-looking. Then he saw Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming.

The combination of the three made Pony Ma think a lot. Just then, Chen Xiu greeted him, so he turned around and walked towards the three of them.

Upon reaching him, Pony hesitated for a moment before saying, "Jack, you're here too!"

"Yes! I had arranged to have lunch with General Manager Chen and General Manager Zhang, but I didn't expect to run into you."

"What a coincidence, I'm going to eat too. Want to go together?"

Pony Ma said this very naturally, using the same wording that Ma Yun had used when inviting Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming to dinner earlier, without changing a single word.

That's why they're often mentioned together; such tacit understanding is rare among others.

Seeing the only polite smile left on Ma Yun's face, Chen Xiu took a half step back and conveyed a meaning with her eyes towards Zhang Yiming: It's done! Someone has come to help us refuse.

Zhang Yi nodded almost imperceptibly at him; if circumstances allowed, he might have even given him a thumbs up.

Ma Yun looked at Pony Ma with a stiff smile and said, "Don't you have any other dinner plans?"

"There's a dinner party tonight, Mr. Chen and Mr. Zhang will be there too, so there's nothing to do at noon."

"Since you have plans for tonight, how about lunch?"

"I have something I'd like to discuss with Mr. Chen. If Mr. Ma minds, how about I have dinner with Mr. Chen and you have dinner with Mr. Zhang?"

Pony Ma offered a "win-win" solution, but as he said this, he glanced at Zhang Yiming out of the corner of his eye, perhaps still holding a grudge against Chen Xiu for the debate in her WeChat Moments.

Ma Yun curled her lip, thinking: What good would it do me to talk to Zhang Yiming alone? If I suggested that Ali invest in Douyin, he could just make an excuse that he had to discuss it with Chen Xiu!

Having already decided that there was no way to discuss serious matters today, Ma Yun pondered for a moment, and then his dull eyes suddenly lit up.

"It's fate that we met. Since you also have something to discuss with President Chen, Pony, let's have a simple meal together today."

"Sure! Let's go together then."

Pony Ma nodded and readily accepted the invitation.

Originally, Chen Xiu and Zhang Yiming just wanted to have a simple meal, but they unexpectedly ran into Ma Yun and then Pony Ma, thus bringing together two of the biggest internet giants in China by sheer coincidence.

Judging from the strange looks cast by onlookers, these two big shots getting together is sure to generate a lot of buzz.

　I'm asking for more reading and monthly votes. I've dropped quite a bit in reading time lately, and I've been rereading the previous chapters over and over again for a long time, but I still don't know where I went wrong. I would be very grateful for any suggestions you may have.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)