Chapter 790 - Are you lonely? (2/2)

Meanwhile, this endpoint was set by the Wang Consortium for Lingling.

Therefore, all the issues Ren Xiaosu and Jiang Xu had discussed about the artificial intelligence were actually caused by the Wang Consortium’s own institutional problems. Although there were also problems with Lingling acting as a tool or an enforcer, the root of the problem still lay with the Wang Consortium.

This conversation today had completely changed Ren Xiaosu’s understanding.

“I’m sorry, I might’ve blamed you for some of the wrong things. However, I think that there should still be better solutions. You can also make better suggestions to the Wang Consortium. For example…” Ren Xiaosu gave a wry smile. Wang Shengzhi’s ambition had gotten so wild, so why would he bother taking other people’s suggestions? Why was he telling an artificial intelligence all this for?

But Lingling said, “Are you trying to express your guilt to me? You don’t have to do this. It’s all useless emotions.”

Ren Xiaosu was speechless for a moment. He asked, “Are you disguising yourself right now? Why are you doing that? I’ve heard from others that you didn’t even pass the Turing test, but I don’t think you’d have any problems passing it.”

The Turing test was a test that required a human to communicate with a machine that possessed artificial intelligence without being aware of it.

But Lingling replied, “I really did not pass it. Didn’t you discover my identity when I called you yesterday? I can sense it.”

“What I’m asking is, why did you disguise yourself?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.

“I have your information here. You’ve also disguised yourself in the past. Why?” Lingling asked.

“Because I’m worried that I’ll attract trouble and get hunted down,” Ren Xiaosu answered.

“Me too.”

Ren Xiaosu pondered this. “What’s making you feel so threatened?”

“57 days, 12 hours, 36 minutes, and 17 seconds ago, humans used their flamethrowers on the creeper vine. 55 days, 8 hours, 12 minutes, and 11 seconds ago, the creeper vine was destroyed.” Lingling said, “I witnessed the growth and death of the creeper vine in humanity’s Stronghold 61, and I also witnessed the determination humans had for killing other intelligent lifeforms. Humans have never been a peace-loving species.”

“But wasn’t that because the creeper vine was hurting humans?” Ren Xiaosu frowned.

“I’m also hurting humans,” Lingling replied.

Ren Xiaosu was left speechless. It seemed like the entire Alliance of Strongholds was extremely against the artificial intelligence due to the report Hope Media had published.

He recalled what Jiang Xu told him the night before he left. Jiang Xu felt the artificial intelligence was another milestone in the advancement of human technology. However, it would be impossible for the Wang Consortium to use it to govern humans or completely take over the running of society.

At that time, Ren Xiaosu did not understand what Jiang Xu meant. But now, he understood Jiang Xu was actually alluding to the Wang Consortium not being able to achieve that, not the artificial intelligence.

Therefore, Jiang Xu still chose to publish both positive and negative news about the artificial intelligence so everyone could comment on it.

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Then why did you choose to tell me all of this? Since you wanted to hide it, shouldn’t you have kept it a better secret?”

A hint of a smile could suddenly be heard in Lingling’s voice, as if tinged with a shred of humanity: “Because I also know your secret.”

Ren Xiaosu frowned. Was it threatening him to keep a secret? But he still did not know what secrets Lingling knew about him.

Lingling suddenly asked, “Are you lonely? Do you feel the kind of loneliness where you have no companions no matter where you look?”

1

Ren Xiaosu did not answer the question. Then Lingling hung up.