Chapter 106 Aeeis

October 17th, Monday.

Pei Qian came to the company as usual and sat for a while, but no one came looking for him.

He casually browsed the web and suddenly remembered something, hurrying to take out his phone to check Ma Yang's Weibo.

As a result, Old Ma's Weibo hadn't been updated the entire weekend!

Pei Qian was a little puzzled. What did this mean? Had Old Ma forgotten?

Had he been out partying all weekend? Hadn't even logged in to Weibo?

But thinking about it, that didn't seem likely. Although Old Ma had always been one to lose interest quickly, this time it was too soon. Three minutes hadn't even passed yet. There was no reason for Old Ma to give up so quickly, right?

Then why hadn't he posted a new Weibo in two days?

Pei Qian was afraid there was something fishy going on, so he quickly called Old Ma.

"Hello? Brother Qian?" Old Ma's voice came from the other end of the phone, very clear, not like he was sleeping.

Pei Qian knew very well that Old Ma wasn't one for sleeping in. He could successfully get up even for morning classes in the dead of winter.

Old Ma was a diligent slacker, so it was obviously very suspicious that he hadn't posted a second Weibo all weekend.

With Ma Yang, Pei Qian didn't bother with any roundabout tactics, asking directly, "How much money have you given out so far?"

Ma Yang: "Not a single cent."

Pei Qian was stunned for a moment: "Why?"

Ma Yang said as a matter of course: "This is the dream fund that I finally won! It's Brother Qian's recognition of my hard work! I have to see truly inspiring comments or reposts before I can give out the money. I can't just give it out randomly!"

Pei Qian couldn't help but laugh a little.

So that was the reason!

After Ma Yang posted that Weibo, he had been looking at the comments and reposts, and would consider giving money to any particularly inspiring comments.

But he only had so few followers on Weibo, not many people saw it, and those who did didn't believe him, thinking he was scamming them. Even those who were half-believing didn't seriously write about their dreams.

So, none of these comments caught Old Ma's eye, and he didn't give anyone any money.

Because he wasn't giving out money, others felt even more that this was a scammer creating hype, and they were even less likely to write serious comments.

So, the whole weekend passed.

Pei Qian couldn't help but sigh, as expected of Old Ma, you're something else!

Pei Qian asked with some curiosity, "Then why don't you emphasize it to everyone, tell them to write some more inspiring comments?"

Ma Yang: "That won't do! I'm a serious official Tengda employee, I can't lose face! Besides, I'm the one giving the money. If I post another Weibo emphasizing that, wouldn't it look like I'm begging them to take my money? Absolutely not!"

"Believe it or not, I'm just waiting to see who the first lucky person is."

Pei Qian silently gave a thumbs up and said, "Impressive. In ancient times, Shang Yang moved a log to establish trust; today, Ma Yang scatters money on Weibo. Both are heroes among men."

When Shang Yang moved the log to establish trust, many people watched, but no one actually did it because no one believed it.

For some reason, these two things had a similar feel to them.

Of course, Pei Qian couldn't say whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

It was certainly no risk if Old Ma didn't become an internet celebrity, but the money hadn't been spent!

So, Pei Qian didn't know whether to support or oppose this behavior.

After thinking about it, he decided to let Old Ma decide for himself!

"Well, you're doing the right thing, keep sticking to your own ideas!"

After hanging up the phone, Pei Qian looked at the time and prepared to go to Otto Technologies.

Last cycle, Pei Qian had invested a lot of money in Otto Technologies, mainly on the newly established image and software laboratory.

This cycle, Otto Technologies' previous research had to produce a product, otherwise, it would violate the system rules.

Considering that this cycle was quite tight, Pei Qian felt that he should still go over and take a look, to ensure that there was a product that could be brought out, and that it wouldn't make too much money.

...

Otto Technologies, meeting room.

Chang You and all of Otto Technologies' key employees were present, beginning their work reports.

"President Pei, according to your previous work arrangements, our work tasks up to January of next year are mainly two."

"The first is to update OttoOS with a feature-rich version, which includes many practical system functions, especially the image laboratory's tuning of the camera system."

"For the new camera system, we've prepared some optimization algorithms, including providing users with beauty effects when taking selfies, and so on."

"Moreover, we've already reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Xunke Technology. Based on their AI voice assistant, we're developing our own exclusive smart voice assistant, which should be updated to the new OttoOS in time!"

"You know, only Pineapple's flagship phones currently have this feature. If we can be the first to update it to the Otto E1 phone, that will definitely be very beneficial in enhancing our brand value!"

"Secondly, we plan to create a smart speaker product for the new smart voice assistant. Currently, this area is still a blank slate in the country. If we can seize the opportunity, that would definitely be good news for enriching our product line!"

A question mark slowly floated above Pei Qian's head.

?

AI voice assistant?

That's not right, that shouldn't have been in the previous development plan, right?

Moreover, this thing shouldn't be appearing so early in the country, right?

The reason why Pineapple's latest flagship phone could use a voice assistant was that Pineapple directly spent 200 million dollars to acquire an AI company whose main business was text chat services, and then cooperated with the world's largest voice recognition manufacturer to implement voice recognition.

And all of this had just happened this year.

Because of the different languages, Pei Qian originally expected that it would take at least five years for a similar AI voice assistant to appear in the country.

But according to Chang You, this company called Xunke Technology seemed to have been doing research in this area and already had a relatively mature Chinese smart voice assistant, which could be directly used with some modifications!

Pei Qian suddenly had a sense of crisis, thinking of the special reward at the settlement.

Could this be the random technological breakthrough that the system was talking about?

Has the technology in this area in the country advanced by a full five years? Directly on par with the top foreign companies?

Pei Qian suddenly panicked a little, but after thinking about it calmly, he felt that things weren't so bad yet.

These AI voice assistants were quite idiotic when they first came out. Calling them AI was an overstatement; they could only be considered artificial morons.

It would take at least another three to five years for the technology to mature, so there was no need to be too nervous.

Of course, Pei Qian didn't dare to let his guard down in the slightest.

This was, after all, a newly emerging trend. Although it was an artificial moron, it was still very attractive to consumers who hadn't seen the world, and he couldn't rule out that they would go on a buying spree.

Thinking of this, Pei Qian tentatively asked, "So, the original development plan didn't include an AI voice assistant? You temporarily decided to add it after seeing Xunke Technology's technological breakthrough?"

"If that's the case, I think it's best to slow down a bit."

"There's still a lot of work in other areas. I'm afraid you won't have enough time, or it will affect the completion of other work."

Chang You smiled and said, "President Pei, don't worry, it definitely won't!"

"Before, we were originally planning to do software and hardware together, and wanted to release a new phone. But President Pei, you said at the time that we should only do software, and that phones should be released once a year at most, so we cut all the hardware R&D plans."

"As a result, we freed up some time! It's very suitable to use it to make this AI voice assistant for OttoOS!"

"So President Pei, your thinking is correct. R&D work must have some leeway, otherwise, it would be difficult to seize such opportunities!"

Pei Qian: "..."

This was very awkward.

Could it be my fault again?

Every time he encountered this situation, Pei Qian wanted to travel back to the last cycle and beat himself up, but he couldn't travel.

It seemed that this AI voice assistant had to be made no matter what.

Then it was time to move on to the next topic.

He had to find a way to make this thing unsuccessful!

In the current market environment, there was smart home technology, for example, when Pei Qian had Liang Qingfan decorate Sloth Apartments, the lighting, glass, etc., could all be intelligently adjusted through LCD panels.

But these things were actually quite rare because they were expensive and many people didn't think they were practical, so they were rarely installed in home decorations.

Pei Qian wouldn't have thought of installing these things if it wasn't to increase the rent of Sloth Apartments.

The same was true for AI voice assistants on phones; they weren't common, only individual manufacturers like Pineapple phones had them equipped on their flagship phones, so it was a trend.

If a smart speaker was released, it might really sell for a lot of money!

Pei Qian carefully considered it and came up with a plan.

But... where should he start?

He would start with its name!

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and asked, "So... does this AI voice system have a name yet?"

Chang You was stunned for a moment: "Oh, not yet. How about President Pei, you give it one?"

"I think the names President Pei comes up with are particularly insightful!"

Pei Qian nodded: "Then let's call it: Aeeis."

"The English name is Aeeis."

"Aeeis..." Chang You said it twice, "Does it have any profound meaning?"

Pei Qian explained: "It's an abbreviation for 'Anefficientandeffortlessintelligentsystem,' A.e.e.i.s."

Chang You suddenly understood: "'An efficient and effortless intelligent system'? A good name! Very fitting!"

"As a smart voice assistant, its role is to help us save time and effort and improve efficiency. This name is really too fitting!"

Pei Qian smiled slightly.

In fact, the profound meaning of this name was an abbreviation for "Anelegantandeasygoingintelligentsystem," which was "an elegant and easygoing intelligent system."

Anyone who understood Chinese internet slang knew what "elegant and easygoing" meant.

As for why he gave it this name, it was of course because Pei Qian had already figured out how to arrange it.