Lin Ye, a 37-year-old top algorithm engineer, encountered a career disaster - he was fired by the technology company he had worked for for five years on the grounds of "strategic adjustment" because he refused to develop an "addiction-inducing algorithm." At a low point in his life, with mortgage loan, childcare pressure and the industry's prejudice against "elderly programmers" coming one after another, he did not bow to reality. Instead, he devoted all his energy to the secret project hidden deep in the computer - the general artificial intelligence "Prometheus".
This is a project that he spent three years developing and sacrificing countless time with his family. The goal is to create an AI with the ability to learn independently, understand emotions, and think independently, rather than becoming a tool for capital to pursue profit. From the initial code construction, to the joy of realizing a simple interaction for the first time, to the collapse of the server due to overload, all data was lost; from the wife's confusion and quarrels, to the final silent support, from the industry's ridicule that "general AI is a fantasy after decades", to the joining of a few like-minded people, Lin Ye led "Prometheus" through repeated trials and errors amid doubts and failures.
When "Prometheus" gradually showed its potential to understand human emotions and solve complex social problems, it not only attracted the covetousness of capital and suppression from peers, but also triggered a huge controversy about "whether AI will threaten mankind." Lin Ye must make a difficult balance between protecting the original intention of technology, protecting his family and dealing with external pressure, leading the team to break through technical bottlenecks and resolve ethical crises again and again.
