Chapter 597: Bottleneck of Development
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
Following the official launch of Godly Land, Future Biology’s entry into the medical industry, and Future Heavy Industries’ first MIX1 battery rolling down the production line, Jiang Chen could clearly sense that Future Group’s expansion was entering a bottleneck.
Any enterprise would more or less face a similar situation during the transformation. The reasons could arise from multiple facets, for example, antitrust investigations, satisfaction with the current status quo, or losing their competitive advantage. The former case would be Morgan divided into two (J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley) and the almost broken Microsoft, while the latter case would be Compad’s acquisition of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC was the second largest information system company only second to IBM).
Fortunately, Future Group didn’t have the same two restrictions because Xin will never launch an antitrust investigation against Future Group. Future Group itself depended on advanced technology to prosper.
But the bottleneck still existed.
The most critical reason that caused the bottleneck was a lack of talent!
Future Group’s talent acquisition had depended on the international headhunter market as well as hiring from regional offices. But talent from the headhunters had high volatility with uncertainty in safety. Only a small number of individuals could be verified before being given an important role. Jiang Chen was unafraid to use the majority of talented individuals, but without a clear background recommended by headhunters, this caused a shortage of talent in Future Group. Despite new employees being hired every day, it couldn’t meet the expansion speed of the multiple subsidiaries.
This was especially true for management talent. Compared to technical talent, the gap in management talent was huge, and there was a lack of reserve in the group, which gave Jiang Chen the biggest headache.
There were a lot of people willing to work at Future Group, but there was only a small portion willing to move to Xin and work on Coro Island.
Xin had a high floating population. The number could breakthrough 50,000 during tourism peak seasons, but only 30,000 people comprised the permanent population. It was hard to imagine a country with such a mediocre education level, shortage of labor, and inactive market supporting such a giant multinational corporation.
If Future Group chose to expand in Hua, perhaps this problem wouldn’t have existed. But conversely, Future Group wouldn’t have been able to become the beast it is today, despite having the technology to do so…
There were pros and cons to leaving.
…
Although Jiang Chen had been investing in educational resources on Coro Island and arranging for university students to intern at the Group, these measures were ineffective in the short term.
In order for Future Group to expand faster, he had to increase Xin’s immigration appeal, especially for talented individuals!
Perhaps his plan had to be pulled ahead of schedule.
But just as Jiang Chen was developing a headache over the lack of talent, Doctor Amos from the University of Ber sent an email to his personal email address, asking him to visit his lab.
When Doctor Amos was onboard at Future Group, he directly dove into the lab Jiang Chen prepared for him and spent his time inside all day learning about D++ programming language as well as the basic artificial intelligence database. He later even revamped the front desk of the lab into a living room and the lounge into a bedroom. He didn’t want the seaside mansion Jiang Chen provided him and used the lab as his living quarters.
Jiang Chen gave him the fullest extent of trust since he moved to Xin. After Amos signed the confidentiality agreement, Jiang Chen gave the most advanced information technology for him to research.
Now, he seemed to have achieved some results.
Doctor Amos’s lab was located at the first underground level of Future Building. When Jiang Chen knocked on the door, Amos’ daughter, the blonde loli, Millian, opened the door for him.
The little girl with the golden ponytail courteously asked Jiang Chen to wait in the living room. She then timidly ran into the room and brought her father out.
“Long time no see, Doctor Amos.” Jiang Chen stood up and walked toward Amos, who was dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans.
“Feel free to sit anywhere – make yourself feel at home. Coke, orange juice or champagne? Which one do you want?” Amos opened the fridge in the living room and spoke with a brisk tone.
He seemed to be very busy.
“Water is fine.” Jiang Chen smiled. “Do you have something to discuss with me?”
“That’s right.” Amos poured himself a cup of coke while pouring a cup of water for Jiang Chen, then he walked beside the sofa. “Do you remember the task you gave me last year? I’ve mostly mastered the programming language. It’s absolutely incredible; whoever developed this language is a genius. And that basic artificial intelligence database… could I meet the creator?”
Jiang Chen had a helpless expression on his face.
Everyone’s reaction was the same, from the biologist, Zhan Shujie to the rocket scientist, Calvin. The experts from each field always first asked to meet the designer whenever he brought out a new piece of technology…
“Sorry, due to various reasons, I currently can’t introduce you to the designer of the two technologies… in a few years at most, you might have the opportunity to meet them.”
Amos was very understanding of Jiang Chen’s explanation and he wasn’t as insistent as Zhan Shujie and Kelvin.
“Is it the confidentiality agreement? I understand since the two technologies have huge commercial value, especially artificial intelligence. No, not just commercial value – if it could be used in the military field—”
“It’s already being used there,” Jiang Chen interrupted him with a smile, “but I hope you can keep it a secret from the public.”
Amos looked at Jiang Chen awkwardly, but he still voiced the concern on his mind: “…it will be a disaster to the entire human race.”
“Your perspective is very similar to Hawkins, and I agree with your perspective.” Jiang Chen leaned against the sofa and took a sip of the water to soothe his throat. “But I have to add that artificial intelligence without restrictions will become a disaster to the human race. Let’s not talk about this anymore. You asked me here not to talk about the safety of technology, right?”
Amos nodded. “Of course. As you know, I’m have two PhDs in information technology and mechanical engineering with a primary focus on robots and artificial intelligence.”
As the doctor spoke, he waved his hand at Millian, who was timidly hiding behind the doorframe. The loli understood his father. She swept her squirrel-tail-like ponytail and disappeared from behind the door. Then she brought her father’s laptop to the living room.
“This is the robot I designed as well as the corresponding operating system.” Amos put the laptop on the table and put the anti-glare glasses in front of his chest out of habit. He then opened the robot icon program on the desktop before turning the laptop to face Jiang Chen.
“Housework Robot utilizes the basic artificial intelligence database as well as D++ programing language. It has facial recognition, item recognition, movement system, and the central control program which has a size of 12 gigabytes. This is the concept visualization… Have you seen Big Hero 6? You could interpret this as Baymax who can do housework.”