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"Argus Image Shows That Art Isn't Humanity's Last Territory Either"
"Argus Image Officially Launches, Sky-High Fees Spark Controversy"
"Argus Image Releases Latest Update, Adds Intelligent Voice Recognition. If You Can Talk, You Can Be an Illustrator"
"Let Painters Embrace the Intelligent Age! Argus Image's Official Version Goes Live"
Early in the morning, across numerous news sites, the matter of Argus Image's fees had already become a major hot topic.
For many office workers on the subway or the bus, the first piece of news they received upon opening their phones was this one.
Most people domestically were no strangers to Argus Image. It had caused quite a stir during testing earlier, and there was no counting how many people had marveled at its effects.
"Sky-high fees? How much are they charging?"
Many people clicked in out of curiosity, and quickly found the figure inside.
"Hss. Five hundred a month for a piece of software? That's way too expensive!"
"How profiteering is that? Charging this much money, can artificial intelligence really compare with a real person?"
"So from now on, when we draw or do advertising design, do we have to pay Prism a Prism tax first..."
Beneath these news pieces, most people expressed incomprehension at the price.
There was no helping it. The soil for paid software domestically was too barren, and most people couldn't understand the behavior of spending five hundred a month on a tool.
But there were people who understood, too.
"This software wasn't made for you spectators in the first place. It's for comic studios and advertising companies. However much it charges is none of your business. In any case, I use it happily, and I'll keep paying going forward."
"At this price, our company didn't hesitate in the slightest. We opened an account for every single person and started training right away, just waiting to pay up in three months."
"As a closed-beta user, I feel the results are excellent, far better than a real person. I mainly use it for image processing, and the speed is simply too fast. After the update you only have to speak your requirements aloud, and it can make a revision in ten seconds, whereas a real person doing the same operation basically needs five minutes or more."
"This software is bound to become foundational for advertising companies and comic studios down the road, on the same tier as Photoshop and the like."
This official launch of Argus Image drew a great many people's attention.
And still more people were looking forward to what kind of report card Argus Image would turn in once the paid period arrived in three months.
Apex Commerce.
Warren Sadler had come to his office early in the morning.
His secretary, Miles Grady, was beside him, pouring him tea.
He looked at the online comments on his phone, then casually opened the freshly updated Argus Image on his computer.
Afterward he read the update announcement on it, not letting a single word slip past him until the end, and sighed despite himself.
"After today, Prism AI's pace is going to be completely unstoppable."
Hearing his words, Grady said from the side, "Argus Image's fees are so expensive that once the current buzz passes, probably only people in certain specific circles will still remember it."
Sadler shook his head. "Even if it really turns out the way you say, Prism has still made this software a success. And you're only looking at this one piece of software from Prism, whereas I'm looking at something deeper."
He took a sip of tea. "After this software's success, Prism definitely won't stop here. Their algorithmic advantage is obvious. One of these days, any number of strange and wonderful AI software might come popping out of them, and by then the entire AI market will be dazed by their flurry of wild haymakers."
Grady asked from the side, topping up the teacup while he was at it, "How do you mean?"
Sadler said, "Look at the AI translation software they released before, and the image-processing software that just went live. Down the road their hands will definitely reach into other fields."
"Do they have that many people?" Grady scratched his head.
Sadler laughed. "Maybe they've already developed an AI that can program automatically?"
While the crowd outside buzzed with discussion, Ryan's father was sitting steadily in his office.
He watched the installation count climbing rapidly in the backend. In under a single hour, it had broken two million.
For a tool software, this was already terrifying, and this was software that had stated outright it would charge fees, five hundred a month at that.
Going by these installation numbers alone, he knew the payment rate after the three-month training period certainly wouldn't be low.
He was just about to have the publicity department release the installation figures when Ryan's mother suddenly walked in from outside.
"You left your phone with me. Your son called you. Always losing track of things, day in and day out."
She ordinarily served as Ryan's father's secretary at the company, and had done so ever since the metal processing plant days.
"Haha, isn't that what I have you for?"
Ryan's father laughed and took the phone from his wife's hand. "Hello, son. How's it going?"
"How are Argus Image's installation numbers?" On the other end, Ryan was in the photoacoustic imaging lab, still gripping a lab mouse by the scruff of its neck.
"Installation numbers? You don't need to worry about that. We've broken two million now, and I reckon breaking five million today won't be a problem," his father said with a laugh.
"That's a decent result," Ryan said calmly.
"Not decent. This result is excellent!" his father corrected him.
"Fine. This result is excellent," Ryan said accommodatingly.
"Since this software is a preliminary success, then next we have to keep expanding."
His father said, "What software are you going to make next?"
Ryan said, "Dad, have you forgotten the intelligent platform I told you about before?"
"A single tool software in the image field falls far, far short of that goal. Next we need to penetrate into other fields."
"Mm... just like that internet-plus strategy people used to bring up all the time, what we need to be thinking about now is an artificial-intelligence-plus strategy. Let's see what new developments come from adding artificial intelligence to something."
"Don't keep your old man in suspense. If you've got something to say, say it straight," his father said without ceremony.
"All right," Ryan said, pursing his lips. "Artificial intelligence can be added to a lot of things, education and medicine for instance. But next, let's put our strength into another field first."
"And that field is... artificial intelligence plus search!"
"An intelligent search engine?" Ryan's father caught on immediately.
"That's right. And it was Gaentech that reminded me of this."
"But directly entering the search engine business isn't very workable given our current situation, so we can start by making a re-search engine."
"A re-search engine? What sort of thing is that?" Ryan's father rapidly searched his memory, and really had never heard of such a thing as a re-search engine.
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