Ren Zhengfei: Artificial intelligence is an unstoppable trend. Young people should start their own businesses for their ideals without regrets

On October 31, the official website of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) publicly released the minutes of a recent meeting between Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei and the ICPC president, coaches, and award-winning participants. The meeting took place on October 14 of this year.

Public information shows that ICPC is one of the largest and highest-level international collegiate programming contests in the world. After more than 40 years of development, the International Collegiate Programming Contest has become the most influential computer competition for college students, hailed as the Olympic competition in the field of computer software.

During the meeting, Ren Zhengfei expressed his views on topics such as the development of artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship among young people, and Huawei's future. Ren Zhengfei stated that the trend towards artificial intelligence in the world is unstoppable.

On Artificial Intelligence: An Unstoppable Trend

Regarding the development of artificial intelligence, Ren Zhengfei stated that the advancement of various technologies such as chips and computing power has facilitated the arrival of the intelligent era. The turning point of this era is the application of artificial intelligence.

Ren Zhengfei used Tianjin Port as an example: “If you have the opportunity to visit Tianjin Port in China, from loading, transportation, stacking, to customs clearance, there is almost no one on the more than 100 square kilometers of land. Steelmaking is very hard, with intense heat; now there are no people in front of the steel furnace or the rolling mill; previously, one had to scoop out molten steel to test its composition, but now one can determine the quality of molten steel just by wearing glasses.”

However, Ren Zhengfei also mentioned that from the perspective of the common challenges facing humanity in the current world development, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is beneficial to society but also puts pressure on it. He believes that in the process of human social development, any progress will come with challenges. “As technical experts, we cannot solve social problems; we can promote technological progress and create more wealth.”

Regarding how to continue pushing the frontiers of research forward, Ren Zhengfei believes that the main philosophy of the industrial revolution era was metaphysics and mechanical materialism, which produced many theorems and formulas, enabling Europe, Japan, and other regions to create many excellent engineering machines that serve the world. In the future, entering the information world requires a higher philosophical level to study the realization of the world.

“If artificial intelligence can self-replicate, what will happen to us humans? I don’t know how far the frontier will go. But I believe that it won’t appear within thirty years; it still relies on humans to create this world, just with fewer people.” Ren Zhengfei said.

On Young People Starting Businesses: Pursue Your Dreams Without Regret

During the discussion, Ren Zhengfei's personal experiences attracted the attention of the participants.

When asked what it was like to start a company, Ren Zhengfei said: “My entrepreneurship was not driven by ideals as everyone imagines; it was to survive, to have food to eat. At that time, we were forced by life, without regrets, and had no way out. We could only move forward and could not talk about dreams.” "So, entrepreneurship is not for happiness," said Ren Zhengfei.

If young people want to start a business, what kind of advice and suggestions would Ren Zhengfei give them? In response to this question, Ren Zhengfei stated that if young people want to start a business, they must do so for their ideals without regrets.

"The founder of ByteDance also faced many difficulties at the beginning of his entrepreneurship, hitting walls here and there, struggling for a long time without finding a way out, and almost falling into a very difficult situation. However, in the end, ByteDance became one of the greatest companies in the world," Ren Zhengfei said.

Talking about Huawei: Still discussing how to overcome difficulties

"Even today, we cannot say that we can survive," Ren Zhengfei said when discussing Huawei. "We are still struggling. The discussions we have internally and the conversations with you are not on the same level; we are still talking about how to overcome many difficulties internally."

In addition, when mentioning the boundaries of science, Ren Zhengfei stated that regardless of how much conflict exists in the world, theories are public because scientific research knows no borders; what has borders are engineering and technology.

Author of this article: Li Lingxi, Source: Shanghai Securities Journal, Original title: "Ren Zhengfei Talks About Artificial Intelligence"