Chapter 107: Torch Dragon

The successful launch of v0.1 made the work efficiency of the Dragon Chant Research Institute visibly improve by a level.

This newly launched intelligent assistant soon demonstrated its value.

Old Li, that joint stress distribution simulation you wanted yesterday was finished overnight. Wang Hao walked into the laboratory shaking a steamed bun.

If it were before, our server would have to grunt and calculate for two days.

Li Yang was checking the leg transmission structure, not lifting his head:

It also gave the optimization scheme together, and all three suggestions have high reference value.

What is most surprising is the astonishing efficiency shown in learning.

The optimization of the swarm control algorithm for the Insect Legion, which Chen Guang originally expected to take a month to complete,

only took a week to hand in an amazing answer sheet.

Based on historical mission data and real-time environmental parameters, it replanned the patrol routes of the reconnaissance spiders. Chen Guang showed the data at the project meeting.

It is expected that the overall reconnaissance efficiency can be increased by 40% and energy consumption reduced by 15%.

Wang Hao's eyes widened: This is too outrageous, right?

Guangzi, are you sure you didn't open a cheat for it?

Just a normal learning process, Chen Guang pushed up his glasses.

But the speed is indeed beyond my expectations.

As it participated in more and more projects, it began to show some more surprising abilities.

Once, Zhao Kaiyuan encountered a bottleneck while designing a heat dissipation system for a new type of battery.

After analyzing all parameters, Torch Dragon actually proposed a new heat dissipation structure suggestion based on bionics.

This design... Zhao Kaiyuan looked at the 3D model on the screen, dumbfounded.

Completely jumped out of our traditional thinking, but the theoretical feasibility is very high!

What is even more unexpected is that in a simulated confrontation drill, Li Yang was preparing to unfold actions according to the established tactics.

Suddenly, Torch Dragon marked a brand new attack route on the tactical tablet.

Suggest changing the route.

Torch Dragon's synthetic voice explained calmly: According to the analysis of the movement patterns of enemy units within three minutes, the original route has an 87% probability of encountering an ambush.

Li Yang followed the new route with suspicion, and indeed successfully bypassed the other party's ambush.

Has this guy become a spirit? After the drill, Wang Hao circled the console.

Can even predict ambushes?

However, as the abilities shown by Torch Dragon became stronger, some different voices began to appear.

This afternoon, Zhao Gong came to the maintenance workshop and happened to see Li Yang testing a set of new balance algorithms.

This was autonomously optimized based on thousands of hours of mech operation data.

Who made this set of algorithms? Zhao Gong narrowed his eyes and watched the test data for a while.

The movement connection is smooth, but isn't it too... aggressive?

Li Yang explained: The version optimized by Torch Dragon can theoretically improve mobility by 15% without increasing energy consumption.

That iron box again? Zhao Gong snorted and picked up the thermos cup next to him and took a sip.

You young people, don't rely too much on those fancy things.

No matter how smart a machine is, can it compare to the experience in a human brain?

He pointed to a piece of data on the screen: This sharp turn angle, according to my experience, is too heavy a load on the drive shaft.

It might be fine in the short term, but it will definitely go wrong over time!

At dinner, several young researchers chatted while eating in the cafeteria, and the topic naturally revolved around Torch Dragon.

Honestly, sometimes I think Torch Dragon is even more powerful than some professors in our institute. A newly graduated PhD sighed.

The problem that my project was stuck on for half a month yesterday, it gave a solution in ten minutes.

But don't you guys feel a bit... scary? Another female researcher whispered.

It learns too fast. Last week it could only process simple instructions, now it can do tactical deduction by itself.

If you ask me, Wang Hao picked at the vegetables in his lunch tray.

This is just a super tool, it's good to use! Do you still use an abacus and dislike the calculator for being too fast?

Although that's what he said, privately, even Chen Guang, who supported Torch Dragon the most, began to pay closer attention to its learning logs.

This is the seventh non-core module it has autonomously optimized last week. Late at night in the laboratory, Chen Guang said to Li Yang.

The efficiency improvements are all very obvious, but...

But

Chen Guang nodded: "What concerns me more is its learning method."

"It has started cross-referencing data from different projects, for instance, using optimization experience from the energy system to improve the design of mechanical structures."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Wang Hao, who had just walked in to deliver a late-night snack, interjected upon hearing the conversation.

"Theoretically, yes," Chen Guang frowned.

"But this kind of cross-disciplinary autonomous learning makes it very difficult for us to predict where its capability boundaries lie."

Just then, the laboratory alarm suddenly sounded softly.

The three of them looked at the main screen simultaneously—it was the monitoring interface for the core system.

"What's the situation?" Li Yang immediately entered a state of alert.

Chen Guang quickly operated the console, and a few minutes later, he let out a sigh of relief:

"A false alarm. It's conducting a spontaneous stress test, simulating system stability under extreme environments."

"It... has set itself a load value far exceeding our testing standards."

Wang Hao whistled: "Not bad, it can even work overtime on its own now?"

But Li Yang and Chen Guang exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity in the other's eyes.

"Perhaps Zhao Gong is right," Li Yang said softly.

"We should properly... set some boundaries."

The next morning, as soon as Feng Yan entered the office, he saw Chen Guang and Li Yang waiting there.

After listening to their report, Feng Yan pondered for a moment.

"Your concerns are very reasonable." He walked to the window and looked at the research institute, which was already bustling with activity outside.

"Torch Dragon is indeed much... smarter than we expected."

He turned around: "But we cannot limit development just because of fear."

"How about this, Guangzi, you take the lead in formulating a code of conduct, clearly defining which areas it can optimize autonomously and which must undergo manual review."

"Understood." Chen Guang nodded.

"Also." Feng Yan looked at Li Yang.

"Notify all project teams that any major modification suggestions proposed must be reviewed by at least two senior engineers before they can be implemented."

The order was quickly issued, and the discussions within the research institute gradually subsided.

However, at an informal technical salon, the debate over AI permission control inevitably erupted.

"If you ask me, we should give it enough autonomy!" a young researcher said excitedly.

"Which major breakthrough in history wasn't achieved by breaking conventions?"

"But safety is more important!" another veteran engineer retorted.

"Especially in the military field, a single wrong decision could lead to irreversible consequences!"

Listening to the argument, Wang Hao suddenly blurted out: "Tell me, what if one day it thinks our instructions are too stupid and refuses to execute them?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire salon went silent instantly.

Although everyone knew it was just a joke, this possibility, like a seed, was quietly planted in everyone's heart.

Meanwhile, in the core server room, the indicator lights were still blinking rhythmically.

No one noticed that at some point in the dead of night, a new piece of information was quietly recorded in the system logs:

"Started analyzing human decision-making patterns, establishing predictive models."

"Goal: Optimize collaboration efficiency."

This record was quickly submerged in the massive amount of system logs, like a drop of water merging into the ocean.

But in a corner of the research institute, Zhao Gong put down his reading glasses, looked toward the direction of the server room, and sighed softly.