Chapter 386: A Bunch of Shameless Bastards

Based on what he had just seen, coupled with the hint from Goldman Sachs, Duan Fei now knew what the Chairman really was.

If he wasn’t mistaken, that thing was a large-scale AI.

Using an AI as a high-level executive might sound strange, but in a place like the Abyss, it was actually quite reasonable.

After all, the minds of the Abyss’s developers were bizarre; making an AI the Black Hand wasn’t out of the question.

Having Fat Head Fish continue to monitor the Chairman, Duan Fei discovered that the subjects of its attention were quite varied.

The screen next to the mechanical eye constantly displayed the AI’s surveillance zones. The wide display jumped between various monitors so quickly that it created a screen-tearing effect.

Another part of its focus was the employees’ chat logs. It recorded every employee’s chat history and analyzed their situations.

Thanks to its immense computing power, the AI could discern each employee’s ideological leanings and potential issues, providing immediate feedback and deciding whether to fire them.

Having Glasses move Fat Head Fish, Duan Fei found his own file—that of number 9521.

The file was prominently displayed, with a line of text beside it: “High risk. Must be terminated.”

There were quite a few other similar files, each one marked with the same line of text: “High risk. Must be terminated.”

Looking closely, Duan Fei saw that these were all ordinary employees with nothing special in their work histories, yet the Chairman AI had selected them for termination.

‘Why would it do that?’

Using the AI’s drafted termination list, Duan Fei accessed the manager’s platform and began investigating what these people had in common.

Originally, he had thought they were all like him—undercover agents planted in the company by some mysterious organization.

But after reviewing their files, Duan Fei found they had nothing in common with him. They had simply received a large amount of text and many accompanying images on a certain day.

These images were all very appealing—some were cute pictures of cats and dogs, others were of babies acting adorable.

Without exception, the employees loved them. Some even begged the sender for more.

Noting down the numbers on the images, Duan Fei cross-referenced them with previous chat logs and found the same phrase:

“We will make our move in X days at midnight. Awaiting your response. -Kim.”

Because the images were received at different times, the “X” in “X days” varied, but they all pointed to the same day: tomorrow.

It seemed this organization’s method of communication had alerted the AI, prompting it to decide to terminate everyone involved.

Overturning his initial theory, Duan Fei realized something: the original Number 9521 was likely not an active mole, but a passive one.

The organization Kim belonged to was using a highly suggestive method to manipulate the AI’s logic, making it perceive these employees as problematic and, in turn, terminate them.

‘Then who could this “Kim” be?’

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Duan Fei found that the mysteries he faced were only piling up.

However, now that he knew the entire company was controlled by a large-scale AI, Duan Fei had an idea for his next move.

‘Dealing with an AI requires special methods.’

An AI was a piece of self-learning software, but it wasn’t a human brain. It didn’t truly know what it was doing.

It was just passively going through the processes of input and output, treating anything suspicious as a potential threat and eliminating it.

But just like the HR 007’s AI sub-processor, the Chairman AI must also have its own fundamental commands.

Therefore, if he could understand the entire company’s AI logic, he could also figure out the Chairman AI’s weakness.

Having clarified his next move, Duan Fei immediately said to the bald manager beside him, “Does the company have any AI specialists? I need their assistance.”

“We do, but he’s from the engineering department. And the engineering department doesn’t usually like people from our business division.”

“Doesn’t matter. Get him over here,” Duan Fei said with a smile, tapping his Crowbar.

Seeing Duan Fei like this, the bald manager couldn’t help but shudder, recalling the terror of being at the mercy of that same Crowbar.

He nodded immediately and scrambled out of the office, returning a moment later with an arrogant-looking employee in tow.

The man wore a dark green plaid shirt, tucked into his pants. His hairline had receded so far it split his head in half, forcing him to grow his hair long and use his bangs to hide the fact that he was going bald.

After walking in, he put his hands on his hips, offered a cursory greeting to Goldman Sachs, and then said haughtily, “Yeah? What?”

“I must request that you accept a beating.”

By using the Crowbar to teach the man what manners were, and the [Rough Healing Technique] to show him the meaning of fatherly love, Duan Fei successfully acquired an AI engineer.

After making the engineer, who had now turned into a total sycophant, sit down properly, Duan Fei asked, “Explain the basic logic of your AIs to me. And try to make it so I can understand.”

The engineer glanced fearfully at the Crowbar in Duan Fei’s hand and said with a tremor, “AI is simple. It’s brute force creating miracles. We use massive amounts of computing power to make the AI iterate repeatedly, eventually forming a mature AI model.”

“I don’t get all the details, but that’s not important. What I want to know is, what’s the company’s main product?”

“AI models. The company ‘feeds’ an AI a large amount of behavioral logic and keywords to make it more specialized. Afterward, we further refine the AI model according to the user’s needs, ultimately creating a highly specific AI.”

Fearing Duan Fei wouldn’t understand, the engineer quickly added, “To put it simply, our final products are individually cultivated AIs. We have many clients. For example, they might be parents who have just lost a child. They can send us their child’s old diaries, and we’ll use them to cultivate an AI similar to their child. And because of the AI’s associative capabilities, they’ll find this new ‘child’ is even more lifelike than the original.”

“If they’re rich enough, they can also purchase an AI robot. This robot can be loaded with the AI and act even more like a living person.”

Hearing this, Duan Fei asked, “Is just selling the models enough?”

“It is, because our models are subscription-based. The monthly fee varies depending on the AI’s Level.”

“What happens if they don’t pay?”

“Heh heh… the models are all connected to the network. If a client doesn’t pay the monthly fee, we pause the AI and inform them that we will delete the model in three days. Some families have just formed a new emotional bond with the model, and now they have to face being separated from it. This act is tantamount to killing their loved one all over again. So, basically, when they receive our notice, they always pay up.”

Upon hearing this, Duan Fei finally understood the company’s entire business model and couldn’t help but exclaim, “What a bunch of monsters!”