Chapter 278 "Deep Blue"?
"On the contrary, Senior Brother, you are a positive example," Su Yuanshan said, hands in his pockets, kicking a small pebble along the path as he smiled. "In my eyes, you are one of the few truly magnanimous people. When you said you'd stay, you stayed. When you decided to go to Silicon Valley, you went. When you wanted to develop CRM, you jumped right in. Then this year at the annual meeting, the moment you heard about deep learning and AI, you threw yourself headfirst into it."
"That's not just magnanimity — that's pure dominance!"
Xi Xiaoding stared at Su Yuanshan, trying to see through any traces of flattery on his face.
But he was disappointed.
Su Yuanshan looked utterly sincere.
"You bastard," Xi said with a laugh, "your flattery is so damn good it's actually making me float."
Su Yuanshan burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Really floating?"
Xi nodded slightly, smiling. "I was already somewhat confident in myself, but after hearing you say that, I feel like my self-confidence has been too conservative."
"See? The hardest thing for anyone is truly knowing themselves."
"Exactly, recognizing yourself is the hardest thing," Xi Xiaoding said, locking eyes with him. "Have you recognized yourself?"
"I know myself very well... okay, let's not talk about me."
"Hahaha, fine, let's not," Xi said, shaking his head. "If you want me to flatter you the way you flatter me, I really can't do it.
But, seriously — I admire you."
Su Yuanshan spread his arms wide like a bird about to take flight. "Now I'm floating too."
Xi Xiaoding was speechless.
"Still, Senior Brother," Su Yuanshan said seriously after laughing, "Chen Haoming needs you to guide him a little.
He already has strong technical skills, and with his background in databases, he's an ideal CTO — a true leader."
Xi nodded. "Exactly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have recommended him to replace me."
"So all he needs to do is master the current products and dominate the foundational layers of the internet. Everything else can wait."
"I'll talk to him these next few days," Xi promised, continuing to walk alongside him. "By the way, do you know how to play chess?"
"A little. Want a match, Senior Brother?"
"Heh, in a few days, you're welcome to come challenge Pandora Lab's 'Chess Tales' project," Xi said with a grin. "We're building a chess-playing AI to validate our learning algorithms — and soon, we'll move on to Chinese chess too."
"Holy crap..." Su Yuanshan almost jumped.
His mind immediately flashed to IBM's legendary "Deep Blue."
Among the general public, few knew much about IBM itself, but almost everyone had heard of Deep Blue — the AI that had famously defeated the world champion in chess in 1997, marking the first time machines had beaten humans in a true intellectual contest.
—
Except for the old man in the Red-White console's Chinese chess game.
—Author's note: I never beat that old guy because I always played blitz games. He was too slow and methodical... so I couldn't be bothered to fight it out.
Of course, chess was relatively simple compared to Go, where human intelligence still reigned supreme — until twenty years later, when AlphaGo emerged.
AlphaGo first defeated Korea's top player, Lee Sedol, and then demolished the best players from China, Japan, and Korea with a 60-game winning streak.
Finally, in 2017 — exactly twenty years after Deep Blue beat Kasparov — AlphaGo defeated world number one Ke Jie, marking the final fall of humanity's last intellectual stronghold.
And there was no coming back from it.
Such was the allure — and the terrifying power — of deep learning.
...
Su Yuanshan took a deep breath. "You guys have already progressed to self-learning from chess databases?"
"Technically..." Xi Xiaoding chose his words carefully, "we're not sure yet if there are bugs, or how strong the learning capability will be once it faces real competition.
Plus, regular PCs and even workstations aren't enough to run it properly — we'll need supercomputers."
"Right, supercomputers," Su Yuanshan said immediately. "The Supercomputing Center will be completed by the end of this month, though the related services probably won't go public until next year — but we should be able to access it early."
The supercomputer project, led by the University of Electronic Science and Technology, was in its final assembly and testing phases.
By the end of this month, it would undergo its first major evaluation — a rigorous inspection by a team of twenty professors and experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Electronics Industry, and top universities.
If it passed, it would be presented as a gift for the 45th anniversary of the founding of the nation.
Upon completion, it would be the fastest supercomputer in Asia, and the third fastest in the world.
Of course, because of the political symbolism tied to its launch, passing the initial acceptance test didn't mean immediate public access — it would still need supporting tools and deep testing.
As a close partner, Yuanxin would naturally be involved in the early testing phases.
"We were thinking the same thing," Xi said, nudging Su Yuanshan with his elbow. "Use the state's electricity for our AI training..."
Su Yuanshan chuckled. "When are you getting one for yourself?"
"In a few years, once we have our own server-grade CPUs," he said with a smile. "By the way, why not tackle Go instead?"
"Go requires too much computing power. Today's hardware can't handle it yet. Let's take it slow — we'll master chess first."
...
The two of them chatted downstairs for a long while before eventually returning to their respective dorms.
Even after lying in bed, Su Yuanshan still felt a rush of excitement.
To be honest, whether it was IBM's Deep Blue playing chess, or Google's AlphaGo tackling Go decades later, there was always a technological ambition behind it.
But at the core, for the companies involved, it was ultimately about branding.
Without real technological achievements, how could you claim to be a high-tech company?
Just by assembling PCs and smartphones?
From the looks of it, Pandora Lab might even move faster than IBM had — IBM launched Deep Blue officially in 1996 and lost to Kasparov 2-4.
It wasn't until 1997, after a year of improvements, that Deep Blue finally triumphed.
Even if Yuanxin moved slower than IBM, Su Yuanshan would have no complaints.
After all, Yuanxin had only been around for three and a half years. Facing off against a titan like IBM — winning would be miraculous, but losing would still be honorable.
As he felt sleep slowly overtaking him, his phone suddenly rang.
Seeing the international call indicator, Su Yuanshan was startled for a moment.
Then he quickly answered.
A pleasant, slightly excited British voice came through the line.
"Is this Mr. Su Yuanshan?"
"Yes, speaking."
"Hope I didn't disturb your rest," said the voice, filled with joy, excitement — and genuine gratitude.
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