Chapter 169: The Person in Charge

Navali's reply caused Sanders to shift his gaze to Swardo.

The latter tightly compressed his lips, leaving only a single line between them—an intensely stubborn line.

He looked at Navali in silence, then slowly turned his gaze to Sanders, nodding after a long moment.

"In my view, Navali's theory contains no flaws or omissions. Moreover, after careful consideration and deduction over the past few days, I have found that his technical proposal is indeed the path most likely to achieve the transition of 'Lucy' into a true strong AI."

For some reason, Swardo's voice sounded somewhat hoarse.

Navali gave him a strange look, but immediately withdrew his gaze.

"Is that so..."

Sanders's expression also appeared somewhat peculiar—seemingly regretful, yet seemingly gratified.

The other executives wore various expressions: some were surprised, some puzzled, and others furrowed their brows deeply. Only Salman sat at the very outer edge, arms crossed, watching the scene with keen interest as his gaze constantly shifted among the hearing's protagonists—Navali, Sanders, and Swardo.

Sanders finally turned his gaze back to Navali's face.

"The feasibility of the proposal has been successfully verified. However, Navali, have you considered another issue? The 'NLMR4' model is the fourth-generation artificial intelligence product the company intends to launch into the market, and our core concept is the advent of a true 'strong AI' that will change the era. If we follow your proposal to implement the 'distributed computing power resources' within it, we will inevitably have to alter our previous strategy and launch this product ahead of schedule. Doesn't that seem somewhat inconsistent with our product roadmap expectations?

"...Furthermore, there is a confidentiality issue involved here. Once launched into the market, our product will inevitably be showcased, and the advanced algorithms we have developed will be exposed to more companies. At that time, how can we prevent other companies from borrowing our algorithms, or even using them to seize the lead and create their own 'strong AI'?"

Navali narrowed his eyes, feeling somewhat perplexed by Sanders's questions.

Because in his view, these questions were not too profound; rather, they were far too superficial.

Moreover... if one had carefully read his proposal, one should have known that he had already practically resolved these issues, lacking only a bit of summary. Could it be that the other party could not calculate such a clear answer on their own?

He chose to meet Sanders's gaze, but the latter sent him an encouraging look. Navali also glanced around the room; not only Sanders, but even Salman on the outer fringe was nodding slightly toward him.

Navali began to dimly understand their thoughts, though not entirely clearly.

Therefore, exercising patience, he mentioned one by one the technical methods whose concepts had already been demonstrated in his treatise:

"First of all, I don't understand product roadmaps, but in my view, the current 'Lucy' already possesses the capability for a dimensional reduction strike against all existing products on the market. Furthermore, it can refine its own intelligence through the usage of various end-users. To the general public, it is already an entity extremely close to a strong AI...

"Secondly, regarding the confidentiality issue—I have already mentioned in the 'Feasibility Study' that when utilizing those 'distributed computing power resources,' Lucy's algorithmic model can employ 'quantum entanglement encryption methods' for real-time encryption. Malicious decoders will always only obtain an incomplete model—and they won't even know which part is incomplete..."

After Navali's lengthy and detailed response, Sanders finally nodded, indicating that he had no doubts whatsoever and declaring himself finished with questions.

Next, more executives raised various questions regarding Navali's proposal concerning technical pathways and security issues.

Yet most of those technical and security concerns seemed laughably naive to Navali, with only a tiny fraction worthy of a second glance—and even those few were doubts he could resolve with swift execution.

Thus, as time passed, the questioners grew fewer, and the voices of doubt grew softer and softer.

Until finally, everything fell completely silent.

Yet no one felt that the hearing was over, not even Navali.

Because there was still one person who had not spoken.

And that person was the crucial figure in the room.

—Salman.

The gazes of the crowd converged upon him, and the latter smiled as he met Navali's eyes, finally nodding after a long moment.

"There are no problems with Navali's proposal—it can practically be called flawless, and I have no reason to object. I believe it can be implemented as soon as possible."

The atmosphere in the room instantly relaxed, and many people, including Sanders, began casting envious and benevolent glances toward Navali. But Navali stiffened his body, for at that moment he saw Swardo close his eyes and lean his back entirely against his chair.

...Deep in his heart, he vaguely felt that something was amiss.

And right then, Salman smiled and spoke his next sentence to Navali:

"However, if we follow this plan, the subsequent technical roadmap and development direction for 'Lucy' will actually embark on a path entirely different from the past. Since that is the case, if we still choose the head of the 'NLMR4' laboratory based on the previous technical direction, wouldn't it be somewhat inappropriate?"

This sentence exploded like a thunderclap, instantly dissipating the misty confusion in Navali's heart.

So it was...

...like this?

In an instant, Swardo's hesitation, indecision, and all those behaviors that had puzzled Navali were fully explained.

He finally understood why, at the exact moment Swardo saw the "Feasibility Study" he had written, there was no great joy, only silence for so long.

It was just that...

This was not what he had originally intended.

Navali braced his hands on the table and stood up, wanting to refute Salman's words, "No, I think Swardo—"

But right at that moment, Swardo opened his eyes. His gaze was cold and sharp, as if he had returned to his initial demeanor.

"—I agree with the CEO's opinion. As things stand, Navali has proven his acute intuition and talent through achievement after achievement, and this technical proposal can indeed lead the 'NLMR4' laboratory to better accomplish its goals. I believe he is truly the most suitable person to walk this path and create strong artificial intelligence. I am willing to step down and yield my position to a worthier successor."

Swardo's words were like a ladle of hot oil poured into a pot of boiling water, driving the atmosphere in the entire conference room to its absolute peak.

Even so, no one spoke for the first few moments; most people kept their expressions taut, waiting for the person with the true authority to deliver the final verdict to bring this meeting to its conclusion.

—And so, the still-dazed Navali standing in place saw Sanders stand up at that moment, walk over to him with a smile, and pat him on the shoulder.

"Congratulations, Head Navali!"

(End of chapter)