Chapter 153 Close AI

Still in that apartment on the third floor.

Sitting in front of his computer, Navali looked at the news stories appearing on his browser's homepage, his expression blank, but his fingers trembling.

"'Solidarity Block' members held a collective meeting, announcing the expulsion of former president Masip Senanez in an effort to salvage the reputation of the 'Solidarity Block'—nevertheless, following the wave of public opinion over this period, the membership of the 'Solidarity Block' has dropped below fifty thousand, and a large number of sponsors have demanded refunds of their donations..."

"Teacher Masip, if you knew that the cause to which you devoted your entire life would end up like this, what would you be thinking?"

As Navali thought this, an old woman's face suddenly surfaced in his mind—the face of his grandmother.

"Everything has a price; gaining and losing always walk hand in hand."

He recalled the phrase his grandmother so often repeated.

Fate would lift every individual to the peak of their life, but it could just as easily cast them into an infinite abyss—

Everything lay within the choices of the gods.

If it were his grandmother, perhaps she could cast her gaze upon him as though she had seen through all the myriad phenomena of the world, using her language forged by hardship and the ages to grant him release and solace.

... But, as far as Navali knew, shortly after his mother Estrella had taken him away from that small village, just a few months later, his grandmother had quietly passed away in that small wooden cabin.

It was eternal rest.

And then that village lost the last wizard to inherit the traditions of the Aztec era.

Navali stared at the computer screen.

Silently revolving these thoughts in his mind.

Recalling his own past.

—From a small lakeside village in Mexico, to a dependent of an American family, to a semi-crippled outcast tossed beside a garbage dump, and finally to the frail, unlovable cripple of today, even uglier than Quasimodo.

Having lost his grandmother, with a mother who had never loved him, the clan of his biological father treating him as a disgrace—even stripping away his skin—and now, even the last elder he truly respected and who genuinely cared for him had been driven to his death...

Navali's gaze gradually grew cold and hard.

His fingers tapped upon the keyboard, bringing up the familiar entrance to the dark web on the screen.

...

"god talk": "Hey, Jaguar Warrior, how are you coming along with the bounty mission?"

"ocelotl": "I am not in the mood for such things lately."

"god talk": "Oh... Please don't be like that, ocelotl. As far as I know, you are the only one with such skills. If you wash your hands of this, I won't have any way to answer to our upstream clients..."

"ocelotl": "..."

"god talk": "... What on earth is wrong with you? Haven't we cooperated quite happily before?"

"ocelotl": "I want to talk a deal with you."

"god talk": "What? You want to make a deal with me? Is it something related to technology? If that's the case, there aren't many people in this world who can compare to you, right?"

"ocelotl": "It is not technology-related... Just this."

"ocelotl" transmitted a large file package to "god talk", containing only a single program.

"god talk": "... What is this?"

"ocelotl": "Take a look at that program first. You can download it in a secure virtual environment, combine it with the algorithm, and see what effect it produces."

The other party went offline for about half an hour, while Navali waited quietly.

Half an hour later, "god talk" came back online, and as soon as he logged on, he replied impatiently:

"My god, what kind of situation is that! Ocelotl, your program boosted the output efficiency of my working target by nearly eighty percent! Who on earth are you?!"

"ocelotl": "Who I am does not matter. What matters is that I think you—or rather, all of you—should be in great need of this program, along with the overall framework and research code behind it? It has an incomparable role for the AI you are pushing to the market—am I right, Mr. Sanders, CTO of CloseAI?"

"god talk" is typing.

"god talk" did not reply.

"god talk" went offline.

"god talk" came back online.

"god talk": "... To be honest, I never expected such a thing to happen. I had imagined your hacker skill level, ocelotl, to be as exaggerated as possible, but it still broke through my imagination. By the way, where on earth did you get this AI algorithmic technology? Did you steal it from some computer laboratory?"

"ocelotl": "If I told you I improved this optimization program all by myself, based on your general-purpose AI, would you believe it?"

"god talk": "... I believe it."

"god talk": "The deeper one goes into the field of AI, the more one understands that this is a realm belonging to geniuses. Current AI research is like a perfumer using a crucible, endlessly spinning around in the ratios of different materials—but if an peerless genius appeared in this field, someone capable of restoring and blending everything solely through their sense of smell like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, there would be nothing to be surprised about."

"god talk": "Jaguar Warrior, you want a deal, right? What do you want to trade with this program algorithm?"

"ocelotl" did not reply immediately.

He transmitted files once again. The files transmitted this time were a package of video materials.

"ocelotl": "I inspected these video clips. Using any AI detection software available on the market, they show no indication of being AI-synthesized, but I do not believe this is true. I know your laboratory possesses the finest general-purpose AI and auxiliary authentication tools available today. If it's a laboratory-grade engineering environment, it should be able to restore them to their original appearance."

"ocelotl": "This is the object of the trade I want—restore these AI-synthesized videos and publish the results on social media. You are currently the hottest AI company; your testing results will definitely be trusted."

"god talk": "..."

"god talk": "... Jaguar Warrior, although I don't pay much attention to social news, I have seen these few videos. Ocelotl, what is your relationship with that person named Masip Senanez?"

"ocelotl": "This information does not fall within the scope of the transaction."

"god talk": "... I understand."

"god talk": "However, ocelotl, you must realize—AI-synthesized videos created with such massive mobilization to be nearly seamless must be backed by forces that are not so simple. An AI algorithm improvement program alone is not enough to offset the potential losses and hostility we might incur after publishing the restoration results."

"ocelotl": "What else do you want? Money? I still have tens of millions of USDT."

"god talk": "No, that's all small change; a few experiments would burn through it all... There is only one thing I want—and only that thing can offset our losses."

"ocelotl": "... What is it?"

"god talk": "You."

"god talk": "I want you to join CloseAI, become a part of us, and devote your talent entirely to our cause."

Navali looked at the computer screen.

He thought for a long time.

Finally, he tapped his keyboard:

"Very well."