Chapter 58: Modeling Captain
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lu Zhou briefly looked at the operating system that the artificial intelligence gave him.
Honestly speaking, he was a little disappointed.
The operation method was similar to a Linux desktop distribution. The only advantage was that it was compatible with both Windows and Linux software. It could be operated by using a mouse or by inputting command lines into the dialog box in the center of the screen.
In terms of internet access, it had a built-in unknown browser. It could browse the web and download software and there was no difference from a Windows operating system.
The shortcoming of this operating system was that it was simply too big. It took up 1TB of disk s.p.a.ce and it nearly filled up Lu Zhou’s entire laptop!
After all this, Lu Zhou still did not understand what was the use of this thing.
It seemed that there was another dialog box on the lower right corner. It looked like a chat box for “Xiao Ai”.
It seemed like one of those pets you talked to on QQ.
However, Xiao Ai’s intelligence worried Lu Zhou. He had briefly tested it and commanded it using a simple language. He asked her to open a computer folder and run a program. Without any problems, it could even auto-completed the program he was typing.
However, these operations could be done by entering command lines and so, it seemed kind of useless.
As for normal conversations, Xiao Ai could only say h.e.l.lo. When it came to difficult sentences, it would often ask, “What does x.x.x mean?”
It was like a little baby learning how to talk.
However, it was better than a baby. He would only have to explain to it one time for it to understand and it would never forget anything.
Lu Zhou had not discovered other uses, at least not now.
As he leaned against the wall behind him, he sighed and thought, “Is the so-called level one artificial intelligence just this? I guess I have to wait for level 2.”
It was a lot worse than Google’s DisBelief and it was even worse compared to the Deep Blue program from a decade ago.
Of course, Lu Zhou knew that it was unfair. The former had thousands of servers for support and it basically ran on a supercomputer. The computing power could not be compared to his laptop.
It was like a person. No matter how logical they were, if they did not have enough brain cells they would still be a r.e.t.a.r.d.
Emm…
Right now, Xiao Ai was no different than a r.e.t.a.r.d.
He could only wait to change a better “brain” for it. For example, a server or something.
However, that was still far away. The laptop could handle level 1 Xiao Ai and he could wait until level 2 before he should upgrade the hardware.
Lu Zhou sat cross-legged on the bed as he began to study the methods of upgrading the artificial intelligence.
Simply speaking, he had two paths.
One path was by using general points. The exchange rate between general points and the technology branch experience points was 1:1.
The other way was by relying on Xiao Ai to do machine learning while he slowly acc.u.mulated the experience points needed for Xiao Ai to upgrade.
Xiao Ai seemed to have a certain level of self-learning ability. Lu Zhou just had to allocate some computing power to self-learning and the program would automatically increase its “intelligence progress bar”.
According to instructions given by Xiao Ai, when the progress bar was filled once, the artificial intelligence technology branch experience would increase by 100.
Which was saying, if he allocated all the computing power to self-learning and waited for the progress bar to be filled ten times, his technology branch would be upgraded.
What a slow upgrading method…
Lu Zhou stared at the screen for a while. He could not even see the progress bar moving.
“A 20,000 yuan computer isn’t enough for this thing? Xiao Ai needs so much computing power…” Lu Zhou could not help but complain about the situation.
If he had just left it alone, it would take forever to progress.
If Lu Zhou was not worried about the program leaking or causing unpredictable consequences, he would have uploaded it onto Alibaba’s cloud server.
For the time being, he had to rely on his AFK method.
I should study two books on machine learning to see if there are any shortcuts. This way, maybe I can increase the speed of Xiao Ai.
Just in case someone tried to open his computer, he set a pa.s.sword for artificial intelligence Xiao Ai.
Lu Zhou did all this before he left the laptop on his bed. Once he was done packing his stuff, he put his backpack on and left the dorm.
It was the last training session for the National Mathematical Modeling Compet.i.tion and Professor Liu had some important words to say. They were mainly compet.i.tion regulations, rules, and some other matters that needed attention.
It was the last training session and Lin Yuxiang came quite timely. Not only did she not arrive late, but she was also the first one there. w.a.n.g Xiaodong was in the computer room, figuring out his timetable, so he was slightly late.
Apparently, the genius had already finished half of the third year subjects in his second year. Other people were still selecting their majors while he was already preparing for graduation.
After everyone arrived, Professor Liu smiled and walked onto the podium.
“You guys aren’t little kids anymore and so, I won’t emphasize on safety issues. I’ll briefly talk about the rules of the compet.i.tion and some things to be aware of.”
“The compet.i.tion has a time period of 72 hours and the requirement is to submit the completed thesis within that time. You guys will be staying up late so I suggest you get a good night’s sleep the day before. From my past experience, the person responsible for modeling and writing the thesis can only sleep on the second night. The person coding can’t sleep on the second night and can only sleep a few hours in the third night. You guys have to cooperate with your teammates and complete the thesis.”
“Modeling, coding, thesis writing. Every single one of those three is important. I’ve talked about this already so I won’t repeat myself.”
“The other problem is discipline. During the time frame of the compet.i.tion, the teams are forbidden to communicate with other teams and the contestants are also forbidden to communicate with teachers. You can use the Internet to download or look at materials, but you cannot message anyone.”
In reality, this rule was not strictly enforced. Some weaker teams would get their teacher to look over the materials but none of them would directly get the teacher to do the question. Good schools had honest teachers but some bad schools…
The teachers might have been worse than the students.
That statement was no exaggeration. Teaching and doing it yourself were two different things. After all, the coverage area and randomness of the mathematical model was too big. Even professors could not do everything.
“Teacher, what if I searched for answers on Baidu?” asked Lin Yuxiang with her hand raised.
Teacher Liu laughed and he said, “You can try, see if you find anything.”
When Lu Zhou heard her, he laughed in his heart.
Anyone that asked that question was someone that knew nothing about mathematical modeling. Not only that they had not experienced the feelings of being dominated by those insanely hard questions, they thought this was similar to Olympic maths when it was nothing like it.
If a person was given a customer data for a telecommunications company and asked to design products for different customers according to the requirements, where would the person go and search for the answer? Some of the questions were related to the compet.i.tion’s sponsors. If the model that was designed was good enough, the sponsors might just take it and use it. There were no answers for the person to search for.
Lin Yuxiang’s face was slightly red with embarra.s.sment as she pulled down her right hand in.
Teacher Liu paused for a second before continuing, “The other problem is the team leader. There is no requirement for one. Our school has always secretly acknowledged the first name on the prize list as the captain. But this is just a false t.i.tle. It doesn’t mean anything. According to previous compet.i.tions, the captain is generally held by the person writing the thesis and is responsible for integrating the teammates together. However, you can also set the captain according to your year. What do you guys think?”
w.a.n.g Xiaodong pushed his gla.s.ses, “Just make it Lu Zhou, I don’t care.”
Lin Yuxiang was holding her thighs and she nodded. Naturally, she did not have any opinions.
“What do you think?” asked Professor Liu as he looked at Lu Zhou and smiled.
“I… don’t have an opinion.”
The two teammates trusted Lu Zhou so much, it would seem insincere if he rejected and so, he simply agreed.
Professor Liu smiled and nodded his head as he continued to speak.
“When the time comes, the school will arrange a school bus to send you guys to the old school where a temporary accommodation will be arranged for you.”
“Finally, remember to ask for a permission slip from your instructor and clearly write down the reason for your absence. As for the lectures missed during the compet.i.tion, you guys will have to think of a way to make up for it.”
“Ask me if you have any questions. If not, you guys can leave.”