Pei Qian cleared his throat: “So, do you have any ideas about how to specifically implement this intelligent voice assistant?”

Chang You looked confused: “Uh… what kind of ‘ideas’ do you mean, Mr. Pei?”

Pei Qian explained: “Pineapple phones also have an intelligent voice assistant, and Shenhua Group, along with some other companies, must all be considering developing their intelligent voice assistants, right?”

“Even if we can be a bit faster than other domestic companies, we definitely won’t be much faster, after all, this technology belongs to Xun Ke Technology, and everyone can use it.”

“So how do we ensure that our intelligent voice assistant can stand out among the voice assistants from numerous companies?”

Chang You was stunned: “Uh…”

“Mr. Pei, in the short term, this might be difficult to achieve.”

“The vast majority of companies are probably directly using Xun Ke Technology’s ready-made technology. We don’t have any foundation in this area, so even if we optimize some detailed aspects, it’s impossible to create a significant gap with other companies in a short period.”

“Besides, these voice assistants are nicely called ‘artificial intelligence,’ but the actual workflow is ‘recognize speech, determine meaning, execute operation’—essentially judging user intent through keywords without truly understanding the meaning.”

“Making a voice assistant user-friendly is less about technical skill and more about grunt work in some ways.”

“So even if we put effort into development, we can’t create a major practical gap with other companies’ intelligent voice assistants.”

“Or does Mr. Pei have better ideas?”

Pei Qian smiled slightly: “If we don’t consider the technical aspects, there are many ways to create distinctive features.”

“For example, its personality.”

Chang You was taken aback: “Personality? Mr. Pei, I just mentioned that this voice assistant can’t truly understand what we’re saying.”

Pei Qian nodded: “I know. The so-called ‘personality’ is just a kind of packaging.”

“If I’m not mistaken, the intelligent voice assistants created by Xun Ke Technology and most companies probably all have sweet voices and are very polite, right? They all try to closely resemble real human voices, right?”

Chang You nodded: “Yes, yes, could it be made in some other way?”

Pei Qian: “Of course it can.”

“Make AEEIS a pure electronic mechanical voice without any emotion. And all answers should be extremely concise, not saying a single extra word.”

Chang You was stunned: “But, Mr. Pei, this would make our voice assistant seem particularly stupid.”

“When a user asks a question, if AEEIS answers in an extremely concise way, the user might not catch it or might not hear clearly and ask again. If the two answers are the same, it will seem very dumb.”

“Using a pure electronic mechanical voice would make it seem even dumber.”

“Other voice assistants use some ready-made, pre-recorded sentence patterns. This gives users time to react while also making it seem more natural and more intelligent.”

“For example, if a user asks ‘What’s tomorrow’s temperature?’, the current approach is to automatically recognize keywords and answer: ‘Hello, I’ve checked tomorrow’s weather for you. Tomorrow will be sunny, XX to XX degrees, with wind force such and such.”

“More information makes the voice assistant seem smarter.”

“If we follow your approach, Mr. Pei, it would directly answer: ‘XX to XX degrees.'”

“If the user doesn’t hear clearly and asks again, AEEIS would again directly answer ‘XX to XX degrees,’ giving a very rigid and dull impression.”

Pei Qian thought for a moment: “Hmm… that seems to be a problem.”

“Let’s do this, then. If the user asks the same question twice, let’s change the way we answer.”

“For example, if a user asks about tomorrow’s temperature, the first answer is ‘XX to XX degrees.’ If they ask again, the response would be: ‘XX to XX degrees. You just asked this question. Would you like directions to the nearest hospital to check for diseases that might affect your hearing or memory?”

Chang You froze: “M-Mr. Pei, we can’t insult our users…”

Pei Qian smiled slightly: “How is this an insult? This clearly shows concern for the user.”

“AEEIS is a refined and easy-going intelligent voice assistant. It won’t use profanity. It will only straightforwardly answer questions posed by users and occasionally express ‘concern’ for them.”

“This highlights AEEIS’s personality: it’s a very smart, intelligent system. It’s precisely because it’s so smart that it only answers what you ask, very directly and decisively.”

“And it’s also because it’s so smart that if you repeatedly ask the same question, it will think you’re stupid and offer ‘kind-hearted care.'”

“Doesn’t this completely differentiate it from other intelligent voice systems?”

Chang You’s mouth gaped slightly, his expression bewildered. He couldn’t wrap his head around it for a long time.

He felt like something was wrong, like there was a big problem!

“Then… Mr. Pei, for AEEIS’s voice, should we use a male or female voice? Should we find a good voice actor for dubbing?”

Pei Qian was about to say “a very unpleasant male voice,” but on second thought, he realized that wouldn’t work.

The lesson from “Game Producer” was clear!

Back then, they had Lü Mingliang do the voiceover, and it caused problems. Even now, many players still regarded that snarky male voice as a classic.

Then, a female voice?

That wouldn’t work either. With this kind of refined and easy-going personality, it might attract countless fans and instantly become a virtual idol.

Pei Qian thought carefully: “An emotionless electronic voice, indistinguishable between male and female.”

A gender-neutral electronic voice should be fine, right?

Chang You was quite confused, quickly jotting down notes, thinking how unreliable it all seemed.

But since Mr. Pei had spoken, he would comply.

If the effect wasn’t good later, they could always change it.

Pei Qian continued: “By the way, you’re planning to make a smart speaker for it?”

“That means, besides OTTO phones, this intelligent system will also be installed on a speaker?”

Chang You nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”

“As far as I know, some other companies are also working on similar projects.”

“Since it’s voice-based intelligence, it needs a speaker.”

“And since it has a speaker, making it in the form of a Bluetooth speaker is the most practical. This is normal business thinking.”

Pei Qian shook his head: “This idea is too commonplace!”

“If others make speakers, and we also make speakers, then we can only compete on speaker parameters and appearance, which isn’t interesting.”

“We should infuse it with soul, with artistic value.”

Chang You was filled with respect: “Infuse it with soul? With artistic value? Could Mr. Pei be more specific?”

Pei Qian cleared his throat: “Combine this smart speaker with the Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine to create the AEEIS Artificial Intelligence Contrarian Machine!”

Chang You: “Huh?”

He almost thought he had misheard.

The Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine… wasn’t that the art piece Mr. Pei designed earlier?

That square black box where a metal rod would automatically pop back up when pushed down?

Combining a smart speaker with that thing?

It was completely mismatched!

This time Chang You was truly shocked. If the previous requirements still seemed somewhat reasonable, this was downright surreal!

Chang You hurriedly said, “Mr. Pei, please reconsider!”

“I bought one of those Fully Automatic Contrarian Machines myself. Although it’s indeed very thought-provoking and has deep philosophical implications, isn’t the space inside mostly occupied already?”

“There’s no room to fit a smart speaker in there!”

“If you want to combine these two things, it means the Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine would need to be redesigned and reproduced.”

“But many units of the original Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine have already been sold. Those who wanted to buy one have already bought one. The new version with artificial intelligence won’t sell well!”

“The Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine sells for 488 yuan, and this smart speaker would cost at least 300 yuan. Adding them together would approach 800 yuan, which is too expensive.”

“Would people who have already bought the Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine be willing to buy another one?”

“Most crucially, these two things have absolutely no connection with each other!”

Pei Qian was silent for a moment: “There is… a connection.”

“The Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine, in essence, embodies the spirit of a contrarian. But a contrarian who cannot speak is not complete.”

“As the saying goes, a contrarian relies on speech to contradict, fearing nothing throughout the world.”

“Looking at smart speakers, they lack personality, features, and artistic connotation.”

“If combined with an art piece like the Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine, our smart speaker would gain distinctive features and artistic connotation.”

“Thus it evolves into the AEEIS Artificial Intelligence Contrarian Machine!”

“Then, when customers are playing with the Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine, AEEIS will also interact with them intimately, saying things like ‘Humans always waste their time on meaningless activities.'”

“Isn’t that a perfect match?”

“Besides, when it comes to speakers, they need to be high-end. A speaker costing just over 200 yuan would only make noise, lowering the tone.”

“Most companies are probably making products in the 200 yuan price range, where competition is too fierce. We should continue with our principle of differentiated competition.”

“In the price range above 2,000 yuan, certainly no one will compete with us.”

“Let’s directly invest in making it around 2,000 yuan, add the cost of the Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine, and price it at 2,588 yuan!”

“This product will be unique. Even several months or one to two years after our product launch, no similar product will appear!”

Chang You was dumbfounded.

He blinked his eyes, feeling like something was wrong but not knowing how to object.

No similar products would appear for several months or even one to two years? Mr. Pei, your words are too conservative. Probably no one will see a similar product in their lifetime!

Combining the Fully Automatic Contrarian Machine with a smart speaker to create an Artificial Intelligence Contrarian Machine?

How did he come up with this?

Chang You wanted to say something more, but thinking of Mr. Pei’s previous strategic planning and brilliant calculations, he silently swallowed his words.

Instead, he quietly wrote down everything Mr. Pei said in his notebook.

“Alright, Mr. Pei, we’ll do as you say.”

“The AEEIS Artificial Intelligence Contrarian Machine will be our first attempt to enter the artificial intelligence home appliance field.”

Pei Qian nodded with a smile: “Yes, I believe this will be a great start!”