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The instant these words left his mouth, the site broke into an uproar.
The various AI project heads watching the livestream felt a jolt in their hearts, muttering to themselves that of course it was the bad omen that came true, never the good one.
They all knew Hargrove, knew he definitely wasn't the type to run his mouth off. For him to be able to say this meant Prism Sciences absolutely had some kind of trump card up its sleeve.
"What exactly could make them this confident?"
Everyone wore a look of bafflement. It had to be understood that even in the brain-machine field, where they held an absolute advantage, Finch hadn't said anything like their opening a new era in the brain-machine field.
Watching everyone's gazes converge on him, Hargrove spoke with great composure. "All of you may be quite curious why we'd be this confident, why we'd dare make such big claims."
"Then next, I'll let the facts speak on our behalf."
The big screen behind him switched over, becoming Argus's command input page.
"Our AI project is named Argus, after the giant of the old myths who had a hundred eyes and from whom nothing in the world could hide. That is also our hope for Argus."
"In Argus, we've employed a brand-new artificial neural network algorithm, which we call the Argus Algorithm. Compared to the mainstream algorithms out there now, our Argus Algorithm holds an enormous advantage in every single aspect."
Hargrove stepped aside, letting everyone's attention gather onto the big screen behind him.
"For instance, it can obtain a better training effect with a smaller training volume, and the algorithm requires fewer operations and runs faster. By our estimate, the Argus Algorithm and the mainstream algorithms currently in use in the industry differ by more than a hundredfold in training efficiency alone."
"An ordinary algorithm needs a hundred examples to learn a single thing. An AI trained with the Argus Algorithm, while it can't quite learn three things from one example, can still reliably learn one thing from one example."
The instant these words left his mouth, the site broke into an uproar once again.
The people who'd come were all tech reporters, and naturally had a basic understanding of the hot field of artificial intelligence, so they knew just how terrifying the Argus Algorithm Hargrove described really was.
Learning efficiency multiplied by more than a hundred times. This was defying the heavens.
If this were the Q&A segment right now, every one of them would be on their feet scrambling to ask questions.
The scrolling comments in the livestream, on the other hand, had no such reservations.
"If an algorithm like this really exists, then the AI field is truly about to undergo an earth-shaking transformation."
"Let me translate this. Isn't he saying their algorithm is more than a hundred times more advanced than the current ones?"
"Opening up a gap of more than a hundredfold is way too terrifying. Do the other companies have any way left to survive?"
Unlike the viewers in the livestream, the moment these words came out, the AI project heads relaxed instead.
Because this obviously sounded like bragging.
A hundredfold gap. Easy to say, but utterly impossible to actually pull off.
Among the companies they worked at, which one hadn't cultivated artificial intelligence deeply for years? They had money, people, data, hardware, and technology. They had every element of AI there was.
Take their technology onto the international stage and it wouldn't lag behind in the slightest. It would even be better than what was abroad.
Now look at Prism, freshly established with nothing to its name, daring to boast this big.
Hargrove, oh Hargrove, who'd have thought a straight-arrow like you had gone and learned to spin tall tales too.
Just as everyone was relaxing, Hargrove on the livestream spoke again, except this time it was no longer "bragging."
"Next, let's start by taking a look at how good Argus's abilities are." He pointed a finger at the big screen behind him.
"Right now we'll do a live demonstration of its image-processing ability."
As he finished, a laptop was brought up. This was what would be used to control Argus.
Taking the laptop and setting it on the podium, Hargrove didn't rush to begin. Instead, he pulled out a low-resolution phone he'd deliberately prepared.
"Let's first find someone on-site to run this test with me."
"The requirement is simple. The chosen person takes out one item they have on hand. Then I photograph it with the phone and have Argus identify it right here on the spot."
Hargrove quickly picked a reporter in the front row, who took out a black wireless earbud case and held it in hand. Hargrove snapped a photo and uploaded it to the computer.
"So then, let's begin."
"Identify." Hargrove typed the command into the dialog box. Right now the AI hadn't undergone voice training yet, so for the time being it couldn't be operated directly by speech.
Once the command was entered, in the space of a single blink, every object in the photo had already been identified. Not just the earbud case in the reporter's hand, but even the tables and chairs of the venue in the background, along with the other objects that had made it into the frame, were all marked out.
Everyone could locate the corresponding marked object from reality, and not a single one was wrong.
For a moment everyone was a little surprised. Plenty of the background objects in the image were of very low clarity, yet they could still be recognized this precisely. That was indeed a remarkable thing.
But this was it?
And this could be called more than a hundredfold superior?
Hargrove knew what was on everyone's minds. He smiled and continued operating.
"Extract the images of every object in the photo except for the ground and the walls."
The next second, every object in this image was extracted, forming individual images that arranged themselves in orderly fashion across the screen.
The instant this operation appeared, the site broke into an uproar.
"How was image extraction at this level accomplished?"
"Does this mean it can directly designate a single object's image for extraction? Wouldn't cutting out images be a breeze from now on?"
Hargrove spoke from the stage. "The Argus Algorithm we use has, at present, raised object recognition accuracy from the previous maximum of 89 percent to 98 percent. With continued training, Argus's accuracy will draw infinitely closer to one hundred percent."
"For this reason, it possesses extraordinarily powerful image-processing ability. It can not only extract object images from a picture but also process the images however required."
Hargrove wrote another command, requiring Argus to take the extracted glass table and swap it in for a similarly shaped wooden table in a separate image.
Argus completed this task with ease, and thanks to the careful algorithm and program design, there was almost no flaw to be seen.
"This is far too powerful. Cutting images out is one thing, but it can automatically photoshop too?"
The livestream viewers and the on-site reporters felt the power of this AI all at the same time.
That series of operations just now had already demonstrated Argus's abilities across many areas: image recognition and localization, image extraction, image repair, and more.
This was absolutely the most powerful image-processing AI in the world.
"It's worth mentioning that the cost Argus spent to reach this result in its training is far less than the other algorithms in the industry. The datasets it's used so far don't even amount to one percent of what other AIs in the industry consume, yet the effect is obvious."
How was this merely obvious?
This was practically defying the heavens.
The public's minds went back to the speech Hargrove had given when he first took the stage. They could now essentially confirm it.
This AI absolutely could open up a new era.
"In addition, Argus's learning ability is exceptionally outstanding. You should have all noticed just now that I told it my requirements directly and left it to understand them on its own, so it also possesses outstanding natural language processing ability."
Only when he put it this way did everyone snap awake.
This AI actually had language comprehension this strong as well.
Everyone looked at one another, none of them having expected Prism's AI to land its first strike this powerfully.
As for the competitors watching the livestream, by now they'd all turned to stone.
The photo Argus had used was taken on-site, with no possibility of cheating, which meant everything they'd just seen was real.
Could there truly be a super algorithm in the world, one more than a hundred times more efficient than their own?
"Just who on earth invented this algorithm?"
As the event entered the Q&A segment, the on-site reporters had the very same question as them.
To this, Hargrove only smiled and looked toward Ryan below the stage.
And Ryan, in turn, gave him a placid wave of the hand.
Seeing this scene, everyone instantly understood everything, their hearts filling with shock.
It really was Ryan.
Besides building mechs and building prosthetics, he could actually design algorithms and write artificial intelligence too.
Was there anything he couldn't do?
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