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Chapter 679 Boss, the fish has taken the bait

Regardless of any doubts in his mind, Hamilton was greeted with enthusiastic applause when he stepped onto the stage.

Perhaps because they were amazed by the animation effects shown by Google, or simply out of politeness, everyone readily used their hands.

With a calm smile, Hamilton slowly raised his right hand, pressed his palm down gently, and only spoke in a clear voice after the last clapping sound had dissipated, "Thank you all for your enthusiasm."

After a brief pause, he nodded slightly and calmly continued, "Okay. I'm sure everyone has enjoyed the animated short film. Now, let's officially begin today's product launch."

"I imagine that everyone here is filled with questions right now." Hamilton's gaze swept across the room again. "Perhaps you are curious about the production cost of this well-made animated short film; of course, I think you are even more curious about what signal Google is trying to send to the market by releasing such a work at this time."

He paused deliberately for two seconds, whetting the appetite of all the guests.

"Let's talk about the production budget first." He slowly extended his right hand, raising three slender fingers that stood out prominently under the light.

A slight commotion instantly arose in the venue.

The guests in the audience whispered among themselves, their eyes filled with surprise and speculation.

"Three hundred million dollars?" someone muttered under their breath, their tone filled with disbelief.

Some people frowned slightly, shook their heads and sighed, "It's not worth spending money like that. Investing three million dollars in a promotional short film is too extravagant." Just as the discussion in the room was getting heated, Hamilton suddenly smiled and his clear voice echoed throughout the room, "Three million dollars."

"That's right, we completed the entire production of this work with only three million US dollars."

"What?" Almost simultaneously, a chorus of exclamations rang out in the hall.

The guests, who had been whispering just moments before, suddenly erupted into a cacophony of questions and incredulous exclamations, plunging the entire venue into an unprecedented uproar.

"That's impossible!"

"Three million dollars? Let alone a feature-length animated film of this caliber, even a five-minute short film couldn't reach this level."

"I absolutely don't believe it either!" A veteran investor involved in the film industry shook his head and retorted, "Google is lying. Three million dollars isn't even enough to cover the most basic salaries of a special effects team. How could they possibly produce such a sophisticated film?"

"This is utterly absurd! It's simply impossible!"

The murmurs from the audience grew louder and louder, and the doubts spread like a tide. No one believed that the film's production cost was only three million US dollars.

It's worth noting that "A Bug's Life," which just finished its theatrical run not long ago, had a runtime of 90 minutes and a production budget of $120 million.

Even if this film is only half the length of "A Bug's Life", and even if "Toots' Debut Plan" has a simple setting.

If you do the math, the cost couldn't possibly be just three million dollars; thirty million dollars would be more accurate. Not to mention, just setting up a special effects team would likely cost more than three million dollars in salaries alone.

The main thing is the special effects. Others may not know how expensive these things are, but people on Wall Street certainly do.

Even if it cost 30 million dollars, let alone 3 million dollars, it would still be a major advancement in special effects technology.

Before they could finish their questions, Hamilton's next sentence made them widen their eyes in astonishment.

"Moreover, this video was produced by one of our employees over a period of two months."

"Has Hamilton gone mad?" Richard Fuld, sitting in the audience, frowned.

They've dealt with Wall Street and Hollywood quite a bit, and they know how time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive special effects technology is.

Even if Pixar were to produce this animation, the cost would likely be ten times that of three million dollars, let alone if it were produced by one person and completed within two months.

This is simply a fantasy, something that is impossible to accomplish.

The others also frowned; they too thought it was impossible, but they believed Hamilton's words.

With Google's IPO imminent, there's no reason for them to fabricate such a lie to deceive everyone; it would be counterproductive.

But how exactly did Google do it? Hamilton didn't leave everyone guessing any longer, and said firmly and emphatically, "I know you all have doubts about what I'm saying, but I can tell you with certainty that three million dollars, two months, and one person—that's the actual production cost of this animated short film."

"And at the heart of all this is the revolutionary technology that Google is about to launch."

His voice suddenly rose, even becoming excited: "Next, I will show you the Vcali engine, the latest creation from Google's TNES. This is a brand-new vocal synthesis technology system built on parametric vocal modeling and waveform synthesis technology."

As he finished speaking, the word "vcali" appeared on the screen behind him, along with a series of complex technical parameters and dynamic demonstration diagrams.

The Vocaloid family has arrived.

However, Google's intention is not to enter the world of anime and manga, but rather to officially announce its initial foray into the core area of ​​AI applications.

He then went on to reveal the secret: "In addition to the core sound library technology, the entire visual production of this animated short film was created by Google in collaboration with MGM, Pixar, and Shine Motion, using an integrated engineering solution of optical projection, real-time graphics rendering, and motion capture. This is an innovative application of the holographic projection technology that you may have heard of before."

"Through this integrated technological solution, all elements of animation, such as scenes, character movements, and sounds, can be quickly constructed and personalized using a standardized resource library." "This means that everyone has the potential to become an idol creator, and everyone can create their own unique virtual idol."

"AI and AR will be Google's strategic development direction for the next few years, or even the next decade or so. We firmly believe that the deep integration and innovative application of these two technologies will completely change our lifestyles and business landscape."

Hamilton then began to explain in detail on stage the core principles, application scenarios, and operation procedures of the Vcali engine and holographic projection technology.

However, most of the Wall Street financial tycoons in the audience were not in the mood to listen to his eloquent speech; their minds were already drawn to the two keywords, AI and AR.

AR is not an unfamiliar term. As early as the 1950s, the technology had already begun to provide flight data support for pilots, which is considered an early prototype of AR technology.

With the development of technology, AR technology has been gradually applied to military, aerospace and other fields, but due to technical limitations and high costs, it has not yet achieved large-scale civilian and commercial use.

However, Google's "Toots Debut Plan" today at least shows them that costs in the AR field are dropping rapidly.

Film and television, cultural and creative industries, games, military, and aerospace are all industries that can be affected in the short term.

On a larger scale, AR will be a key area for future development, encompassing consumer spending, industry, and public services.

This is such a huge market! If Google can really dominate this field in the future, how much will its valuation inflate?

AI technology has a history that predates the term AR, and it has been applied in far more ways.

AI was officially born when Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts proposed the artificial neuron model in 1943, pioneering the origins of connectionism.

From the late 50s to the early 70s, AI ushered in its golden age.

John McCarthy, who coined the term "artificial intelligence," is currently working at Ernst's Helios Institute.

However, the technology was still too advanced, and various government-led projects were eventually shelved due to funding shortages, ushering in the first winter for AI.

In the 1980s, with the rapid development of computer technology, the AI ​​industry experienced another explosive growth, giving rise to various expert systems. Expert systems, in essence, simulate the thinking processes of human experts to analyze and judge problems in specific fields.

For example, by inputting a patient's physical symptoms into the system, the system can simulate a doctor's diagnostic process and provide corresponding disease assessments and treatment suggestions.

However, from today's technological perspective, the expert systems of that time were relatively rudimentary and extremely limited, unable to provide accurate judgments, and even seemed somewhat absurd.

Therefore, after a brief period of explosive growth, the AI ​​industry once again fell into a trough, ushering in its second winter.

In the 90s, the topic of AI resurfaced.

In 1990, convolutional neural networks were officially born, laying an important foundation for AI image recognition and processing technology.

In 1997, IBM's supercomputer Deep Blue defeated then-world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match, sparking widespread global attention to AI technology.

But no matter how eye-catching these things are, they receive no attention on Wall Street.

Because they are well aware that these are fake AIs, which essentially rely more on the accumulation of large amounts of data and the optimization of algorithms, rather than being truly artificial intelligence with the ability to learn and make decisions autonomously.

But Google is different this time. These two software programs have shown them all the true arrival of AI and the huge commercial potential behind it.

As Hamilton mentioned on stage, theoretically, the Vcali engine can synthesize any type of sound, provided it has a sufficiently rich database. Autonomy.

It never existed.

Aren't these two words exactly what AI is?

Although it's still very basic, it's enough; it already has endless potential for hype.

For example, in the medical field, it can simulate the voice characteristics of patients to help patients with language disorders regain their ability to express themselves.

In the field of communications, it can achieve personalized real-time voice conversion, providing users with a more convenient and secure communication experience.

In the entertainment industry, besides creating virtual idols, it can also be applied to various scenarios such as film and television dubbing and music creation, reducing production costs and improving creative efficiency.

There are so many concepts that Wall Street can hype up, just like the current concept of the Internet.

"Trillion," Rolf muttered softly, his body trembling uncontrollably.

"What?" Philip, who was sitting one seat away from him, didn't hear clearly.

But Paulson, sitting next to him, had eyes that seemed to grow even brighter.

I initially thought that Google becoming the world's most valuable company would already make Goldman Sachs' investment worthwhile. But now it seems the slap has come, and it hurts.

But this sweet treat was enough to surprise everyone, even making them willing to offer their faces and let Google slap them in the face again.

Unbeknownst to them, their excited expressions were seen by Hamilton, who was giving a speech on stage.

Boss, the fish has taken the bait.