Pei Qian didn’t give the two men any opportunity to object and proceeded directly to the next topic.
“Now we need to determine the main research direction for the Slow Horse Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.”
“Do you have any thoughts?”
Pei Qian followed his usual approach of fishing for information first.
Otherwise, if his suggestions happened to align with the department head’s ideas, it would be difficult to change course later.
Shen Renjie said, “Mr. Pei, our laboratory’s research currently focuses on conventional applications of artificial intelligence. Simply put, we’re working on upgrading and optimizing smartphone AI functions, like all the mobile features managed by AEEIS, which fall within our research scope.”
Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, as this was the main reason he had chosen to acquire this company.
Smartphone AI assistants, smart speakers, and smart home devices represented the most widespread and highly commercialized areas of AI application currently, which aligned perfectly with Tenda’s existing industries.
The laboratory’s research results could be directly applied to AEEIS, making it more effective on OTTO phones. Meanwhile, Chang You was currently developing various smart home products, so research in this field was crucial for OTTO Technology.
Moreover, this field was relatively likely to produce results.
At the current stage, artificial intelligence was essentially intelligence built through human effort—the more human input, the more intelligent it became.
For instance, AEEIS’s functions were supported by vast amounts of code. Though it appeared intelligent, it was actually the result of programmed calculations based on predetermined settings.
Other research directions would be relatively more difficult and less likely to yield results.
Pei Qian fell silent.
Clearly, these weren’t particularly complex or profound principles—he understood them too.
If that was the case, then they definitely couldn’t choose this field!
As for which field they should choose, Pei Qian himself wasn’t sure, but at least Shen Renjie and Jiang Yuan had helped him eliminate one correct answer.
Pei Qian coughed lightly. “We can certainly do some research in this area, but it’s unnecessary to make it our primary research direction.”
“Assign a small portion of people to casually research this field.”
Pei Qian couldn’t ask them to completely abandon it, as the vast majority of their research results were in this field. Asking them to give it all up would be too extreme.
But continuing to focus heavily on this area wouldn’t work either—it was too likely to succeed.
The best approach would be to allocate just a small portion of manpower to this research, doing just enough to save face without putting in too much effort or producing significant results.
Shen Renjie was stunned. “Huh?”
Previously, when he discussed determining the laboratory’s main research direction with Mr. Pei, he meant selecting a specific sub-field within their current area to focus on.
He hadn’t considered any fields beyond this at all!
The laboratory had too little accumulated experience in other areas, and those fields had higher research difficulty and were less likely to produce results. They could easily end up wasting their efforts.
Seeing the bewildered expressions of Shen Renjie and Jiang Yuan, Pei Qian knew it was time to deploy his verbal skills.
His expression immediately became serious. “The field you’re currently researching has two fatal flaws.”
“First, there’s severe homogenization, offering absolutely no differentiated competition.”
“Just consider how many domestic companies and laboratories are researching in this direction. Almost all smartphone manufacturers are developing their own AI assistants, not to mention industry leaders like Xunke Technology.”
“What’s the point of battling them directly in this field?”
“We might as well buy ready-made technology from Xunke Technology and have some of our people make minor adjustments based on that foundation.”
“Second, the ceiling is too low—the goals aren’t nearly long-term enough.”
“Even if we achieve certain results, how much benefit will they bring us?”
“At most, they’ll make AEEIS’s functions a bit richer and roll out a few more smart gadgets. But if we can do this, can’t other companies do the same?”
“How much more sophisticated can AEEIS’s functions become? Will they bring any substantial experience improvements to our smartphone users?”
“Clearly, this is a low-risk, low-return field.”
“If we want to do something low-risk and low-return, we might as well just buy existing technology. Why establish our own laboratory?”
“So, we must choose a high-risk, high-return direction!”
“It’s completely fine if we don’t have critical results for a year or two and continue to lose money. Our goals need to be set much further ahead!”
“In other words, you can research any direction you want, but you absolutely cannot continue researching in your current direction. You can spend as much money as needed on research, but the goals must be long-term.”
“Of course, don’t just keep working on some grand breakthrough, getting stuck in a mental trap. Occasionally producing small results is still progress!”
Pei Qian added that last point mainly because he was concerned that the laboratory might go too long without results, leading to delayed settlements. As long as there were some minor achievements to cobble together into a product for sale, it wouldn’t violate the system’s rules.
Pei Qian spoke with such conviction that both men’s faces showed expressions of shame.
Just look at Mr. Pei’s vision and perspective!
Indeed, the helmsman of such a large conglomerate thought differently from ordinary employees!
Shen Renjie quickly nodded. “I understand, Mr. Pei. I will definitely make your words the creed for all employees of the Slow Horse Artificial Intelligence Laboratory—strictly observed and always remembered!”
Pei Qian nodded with great satisfaction.
Good, Shen Renjie was mature and steady, seeming to be a very obedient person, which was reassuring.
As for Jiang Yuan, he hadn’t been in charge for long and hadn’t caused any trouble, so he should be much better than Chang You.
Pei Qian stood up. “Alright, I’ll be going now.”
He had only helped the Slow Horse AI Laboratory eliminate one major option but hadn’t pointed out a very specific direction.
This was mainly because Pei Qian feared his “European Emperor” attribute would activate again, accidentally pointing out a breakthrough area.
Just let Shen Renjie figure it out slowly on his own. As for what he eventually came up with, that would be left to fate.
—
After seeing Mr. Pei off, Jiang Yuan and Shen Renjie returned to the meeting room.
Shen Renjie couldn’t help but remark, “Meeting Mr. Pei for the first time, I never expected him to be such a person.”
Jiang Yuan asked, “What kind of person?”
Shen Renjie thought for a moment. “He has a maturity that doesn’t match his age. I’ve never seen such vision and perspective in anyone else.”
“I must say, the entire Tenda Group shares Mr. Pei’s character—equally youthful and full of vitality.”
Shen Renjie was approaching middle age and had dealt with many company owners and CEOs in the industry, weathering numerous storms. But after coming to Tenda, he was still amazed by various extraordinary things.
For instance, Jiang Yuan was already quite young, yet Mr. Pei was even younger. And Chang You, the original head of OTTO Technology, had only been in charge for a year before being transferred to another department, despite his outstanding performance and recognition as an excellent employee.
Such a thing would be unheard of in other companies.
Jiang Yuan smiled slightly. “You’ll get used to it.”
Shen Renjie’s expression turned melancholic again. “But to return to the matter at hand, Mr. Pei didn’t give us very clear instructions.”
Jiang Yuan took a leisurely sip of tea. “Director Shen, this is where your knowledge is lacking.”
“According to Tenda’s standard work procedures, the real substance of our work begins now.”
Shen Renjie: “What? Does that mean…”
Jiang Yuan nodded slightly. “That’s right. Mr. Pei has likely already given us sufficient hints in his previous remarks, and now we need to carefully interpret them.”
Shen Renjie blinked, completely puzzled.
Jiang Yuan had anticipated this. Though Shen Renjie was older, he had never worked at Tenda before and couldn’t grasp Mr. Pei’s way of thinking. So, he would have to take the lead.
He took out his phone and searched for the keyword “slow horse.”
“First, the name Mr. Pei gave to the laboratory is very sophisticated.”
“Literally, a ‘slow horse’ is an inferior horse, which doesn’t seem like a positive term. But in ‘Encouraging Learning,’ there’s a famous saying: ‘A fine steed may leap ten paces in a single bound, but a slow horse that travels ten times can succeed through persistence.'”
“This means that while a thoroughbred may run fast, if it only jumps once, it still can’t cover more than ten steps. But if an inferior horse keeps running, as long as it perseveres, it can also go far.”
“Combined with the laboratory’s previous name, ‘Qilin,’ the meaning becomes even clearer.”
“Mr. Pei means that we should adopt a humble posture.”
“The field of artificial intelligence is too profound and complex—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it represents humanity’s future. In such a field, we should always maintain an apprentice’s mindset, advancing step by step like a slow horse. The key isn’t how fast we run initially but how long we can persist.”
“So, Mr. Pei is telling us to never become complacent or satisfied with small achievements. We must maintain the right attitude, recognize our limitations, always look to the long term, and persist in our research. Only then can we secure a place in this field!”
Shen Renjie had a moment of realization. “I see! So the name ‘Slow Horse Artificial Intelligence Laboratory’ contains many meanings! Far from being mundane, it actually has profound cultural connotations?”
Jiang Yuan continued, “As for the future research direction of the Slow Horse Laboratory…”
“Although Mr. Pei didn’t explicitly point it out, he did indicate a general scope.”
“Mr. Pei wants us to differentiate ourselves from other laboratories in our competition, to have a long-term vision while fully leveraging our comparative advantages.”
“In my view… why not focus our research on the application of artificial intelligence in the gaming field? What do you think?”
Shen Renjie was surprised. “The gaming field? That makes sense!”
“Tenda’s games are excellent, and various AI elements and assistants in games are indeed one of the research directions for artificial intelligence.”
“If we could make breakthroughs in game AI, it would certainly have a greater impact than refining AEEIS’s functions!”
“Good, then it’s decided. We’ll allocate a small portion of our manpower to research in AEEIS artificial intelligence and smart home areas, and focus our main research direction on the gaming field!”