Chapter 681: Yifei Immortal Residence

This "Ten Economic Figures" event, beyond its impact on emerging industries, also provided internet users with more topics for discussion.

After all, besides speeches, nothing is more interesting than big shots bickering with each other.

Lao Cao was branded "Depraved," bombarded with online abuse, simply because he said, "High wages discourage young people from working hard."

This truly struck a nerve among many young people.

They were already suffering, already exhausted, already despising capital's exploitation—you openly said this, said it multiple times—who could possibly tolerate it? Who else would you curse if not you?

This wave triggered a class confrontation between workers and capitalists; suddenly, criticism flooded the internet.

Faced with such massive public backlash, Fu Yao had to issue a statement: "Fu Yao has always strictly adhered to national labor laws; our employees' average salary exceeds industry standards. In recent years, we have invested substantial funds to improve factory environments, upgrade safety facilities, and through the Artisan Program, provide employees with skill training and career advancement pathways."

"We also open ourselves to oversight: if individual factory management issues cause employee dissatisfaction, we will establish special investigation teams to verify and rectify them. Effective immediately, we are launching an employee rights direct email channel to ensure transparent and unobstructed communication."

He concluded: "Regarding the remarks made at the symposium, my intent was to urge society to cherish manufacturing job opportunities, with absolutely no intention to disregard workers' rights. I deeply apologize for any misunderstanding caused by incomplete phrasing."

This stance was softened; the statement included the average monthly income of grassroots factory employees domestically, along with standards for the five insurances and one fund and performance bonuses.

He reaffirmed their philosophy of "developing oneself while benefiting the world!"

Although workers can't compete with them in reality, and even cower for survival, online, using keyboards, they've rarely lost.

The class confrontation was cursed to the skies, forcing them to make changes—though these were isolated adjustments, not systemic change—and that's enough.

Perhaps this also serves as an outlet for workers to vent, a channel to be heard; other channels may be blocked, but cursing capital? You can curse freely—it's impossible to stop.

For people like Jack Ma and Pony Ma, netizens never feel right unless they curse them once in a while.

Now another has been added—the Principal. Though he said many good things, he's still a target of abuse; after all, he's capital too, and he sleeps with Liu Tianxian every night.

As always: don't provoke negative, divisive emotions. If anyone stirs up negativity that affects society, handle it yourself—if you don't, I'll handle it for you.

Stability is always the top priority!

Although Fang Hong hasn't participated in politics for years, even distancing himself, with his rising status and level, he now deeply understands what we want, what kind of environment we desire.

He used to complain often; now he complains not at all, because the external environment is genuinely harsh—we must stabilize, every industry must stabilize.

Lao Cao was merely a venting outlet; the bickering between the Principal, Lao Wang Zong, and Jack Ma became netizens' after-dinner banter.

"Haha, Lao Wang Zong was pushed to the brink by the Principal."

"Jack Ma's rhetoric is too good—he circles around saying vague things, but the Principal doesn't buy it; you insult me, I insult you back."

"Lao Wang Zong likes to speak blunt truths, Jack Ma is ethereal, and the Principal likes to show off."

"You're looking through a telescope and still can't find a rival, right? What about Liu Tianxian, hahaha."

"And don't forget—he's never touched money, has no interest in it, a total big shot."

"I Fei is also very cocky—can organize any dinner party, won't eat anyone else's meals."

Liu Tianxian's interview remarks are still online, compiled into "Fei Words, Fei Phrases."

These video clips didn't have much impact—they're nowhere near as influential as Lao Cao's remarks; netizens just enjoy them as jokes, a long-standing joke.

In five or six years, when each of these big shots' fates undergoes earth-shattering change, netizens will still pull them out to watch, like an entertainment show.

But people's perception of the Principal has undergone a subversive shift; netizens haven't felt it deeply, but every industry has.

Especially in the internet and entertainment circles, the Principal's direct bickering with Lao Wang Zong and Jack Ma signals his rise.

Previously, the Principal was extremely low-key; even during conflicts, he rarely openly insulted anyone in public.

This time, he showed zero restraint—it seems he truly fears no one.

One day, Fang Hong received a call from Zhang Hongsen, who asked: "You're so bullish on Artificial Intelligence and New Energy—why aren't you entering the field?"

"Who says I'm not entering? I definitely will— I just don't have money," Fang Hong said, sounding perfectly justified.

"Then which one do you favor—if you had a lot of money?" Zhang Hongsen asked bluntly.

"Artificial Intelligence!" Fang Hong said.

"Explain why?" Zhang Hongsen asked again.

"Wait, Zhang Ju, why are you asking me this? Isn't this outside your jurisdiction?" Fang Hong was puzzled.

"Isn't Artificial Intelligence related to film and television? Alibaba already uses Big Data to write screenplays—how much worse could Artificial Intelligence be? You mentioned Fast and Furious 7 at the meeting—don't we need to proactively address the ethical and moral issues and draft guidelines?" Zhang Hongsen countered.

"That makes sense," Fang Hong nodded, agreeing it was reasonable.

But it wasn't his responsibility—it should be the General Administration asking him to discuss and solicit his opinion.

Indeed, Artificial Intelligence has a huge impact on content: virtual-generated content is countless, especially face-swap technology, which once caused a huge uproar.

This spawned many cases of pornography and fraud, forcing emergency legislation to regulate it.

In truth, he overthought it—the higher-ups hadn't thought that far; they just wanted to hear his views.

After all, Artificial Intelligence has just begun—it's only a shadow so far.

"Film and television content faces two impacts: first, the internet—you've seen it yourself. Traditional promotional channels have been shattered; we're moving from the Traffic Era into the Algorithm Era."

"The barrier to creation is extremely low; tools are becoming democratized—soon, smartphones will be able to edit short videos."

"Viewing and consumption patterns are changing too; the internet has transformed the entire content system." Fang Hong said.

"I know this—we're gradually improving online legislation and regulation," Zhang Hongsen followed along.

He didn't really want to discuss this—he only wanted to explore what Artificial Intelligence should be.

"But the internet is merely the foundation of Artificial Intelligence—it can analyze user behavior data, predict popular themes, even guide creation; tools can generate music, compose scores, produce video content, and track copyright. You can understand the internet as a tool, while Artificial Intelligence gives the tool wisdom," Fang Hong said.

It really can do voice and music dubbing—someone's song can be mimicked by another's voice, to a degree so lifelike even professionals struggle to tell the difference; Disney has done this.

Isn't Luo Tianyi a virtual digital singer who held concerts?

"So you're very bullish on Artificial Intelligence's future," Zhang Hongsen said.

"Yes. Humans can't explore other planets—machines can, right?"

Fang Hong's words gave Zhang Hongsen a sudden clarity—he felt much more certain.

On other planets, humans can't mine or do hard labor—they can't endure the harsh environment or the loneliness and isolation; only machines can. And when Artificial Intelligence develops to a certain level, it achieves exactly this effect.

Just like the Age of Exploration, Artificial Intelligence may be the key to developing on other planets—he finally understood its ultimate purpose.

"That's too far away. What about 5G and the Metaverse? One is an internet network, the other can build a virtual cinematic world," Zhang Hongsen asked.

"Someone's already working on 5G, and after that comes 6G, 7G—there's nothing much to say, just keep exploring," Fang Hong didn't mention any difference between overseas 5G and China's 5G, or which was better.

As long as you keep exploring and researching, that's enough. Even if someone else's 5G is better, you can't use their standards!

Even if yours is bad, it's still yours—what matters most is not being controlled by others.

"As for the Metaverse you mentioned, I won't make any firm claims. At least within the next twenty years, it won't achieve any major breakthroughs—in technology or materials. Of course, that's just my guess," Fang Hong spoke from experience, not daring to guarantee it.

Anyway, since he was reborn, the Metaverse was still in the exploratory stage, not because the giants had completely abandoned it, but because they were stuck and couldn't break through.

Zhang Hongsen fell silent, listening as he continued.

"Artificial Intelligence can keep iterating. As long as computing power explodes, theoretically it can keep deep learning, and results will appear quickly. It benefits every industry, promotes development across all sectors—just invest, and while you can't guarantee returns, you'll definitely see progress." Fang Hong had directly given the answer.

It was true. Within just a few years, AI had improved efficiency in medicine, finance, manufacturing, agriculture, education, and even entertainment, disrupting existing structures.

But this thing consumes enormous electricity. Widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence will require massive power—imagine placing ten thousand computers running at high load; the power consumption becomes terrifying.

But we have extremely strong electricity—we don't need to worry.

"Alright, I understand."

Zhang Hongsen thought he could report back, then added: "Since you're so confident, why don't you join in?"

Again this question—he'd asked it at the start.

"I'd join, but I have no money right now," Fang Hong reiterated.

You can't play this game without tens of billions. Those who play are international giants. DeepSeek is an outlier—it's only made a breakthrough in one specific area.

Artificial Intelligence is divided into many types: vision, touch, natural language, reasoning, generative, and so on.

It's also categorized into major classes like technology, applications, and capabilities, and within each major class there are many subcategories—entertainment, gaming, film and television are just one small subset.

DeepSeek belongs to natural language and generative AI—it doesn't cover the entire field of Artificial Intelligence.

"You could join," Zhang Hongsen hinted.

"Huh?" Fang Hong was stunned—this carried a lot of information.

The two quickly ended the conversation.

To generate sufficient attention across all industries for this wave of Artificial Intelligence,

Fang Hong published an open letter, adding more fuel.

"No industry can escape transformation by the internet and Artificial Intelligence. The entertainment industry is already being shaken by the internet—this is an undeniable fact.

Artificial Intelligence has even deeper implications: in the future, we may no longer need screenwriters or composers; special effects and animation might all be completed by Artificial Intelligence.

As content-based entities, Yutu and Chang'e will actively embrace Artificial Intelligence! Over the next five years, we will invest ten billion U. S. dollars to establish the 'Yifei Xianju' Artificial Intelligence Research Center as a nonprofit organization!"

As soon as this open letter was released, it instantly ignited the entire capital and internet industries.

The Principal really has money—ten billion dollars? Is he robbing banks?

Is this really the future? Is it worth the Principal betting so heavily? If true, this is a full-on all-in push into Artificial Intelligence—ten billion dollars isn't even enough to stake his entire fortune. The Principal has real guts.

Someone asked Jack Ma: "What do you think?"

"I'm just lying back and watching," Jack Ma said, exasperated—he didn't know enough, everyone kept asking him, and he himself was still watching.

He didn't believe the Principal could actually come up with ten billion dollars. What did ten billion dollars even mean? That's Alibaba's annual total revenue—not profit.

Even he dared not play so recklessly; failure would be catastrophic for any company.

But what was the Principal's situation? He didn't know!

Anyway, Fang Hong's move had clearly thrown a bomb into China's stagnant, underappreciated Artificial Intelligence field.

It shocked those who were watching, those still hesitating, forcing them to turn their attention back to Artificial Intelligence.

And this explosion also brought new life to the field—capital flooded in. Riding this wind, Cambricon and Momenta, two Artificial Intelligence chip companies, successively announced their establishment,

and Horizon Robotics and similar autonomous driving chip companies also announced funding rounds—how much they raised was unknown, but clearly they weren't short of money.

With this boost, Artificial Intelligence in China showed signs of thriving—at least it shouldn't just be chasing the United States; it needed its own innovation.

"This Principal is clever—he just lightly prods and it all unfolds," they thought. Their goal was to get Fang Hong to lead.

Since he brought it up, told the story, it was best if he led.

We can't rely on the state for everything—private power is also vital. The state just needs to build the infrastructure and provide the platform.

Because of this, countless pretenders claiming to be tech geniuses rushed to visit and meet the Principal, seeking funding.

"You've got ten billion dollars—give us some!"

Fang Hong had no money at all—he'd just blown off some steam—and naturally declined all visitors.

Even Chen Zhixi and Gao Zhun came excitedly to ask: "Principal, ten billion dollars? Where are we even going to get that kind of money?"

"Calm down, calm down—I was just saying it offhand. You can take it seriously, but don't take it too seriously," Fang Hong reassured them.

(End of Chapter)