A Wall Street Genius's Final Investment Playbook-Chapter 270 : The Invisible Hand (5)

The controversy surrounding AI training data was not just a hot topic now, but one that would be persistently raised in the future as well.

Without even realizing it, people’s personal routines and private information were being collected and used without consent.

The discomfort and sense of betrayal this caused was immense.

Many considered this not just a privacy violation, but a threat to their very right to personality.

But what if the entity behind this was Gooble?

Search, email, maps, YouTube, calendar, documents, location history—

If all of these daily actions could become material for AI,

Then it was a bombshell.

A bomb loaded with dangerously volatile explosives.

And I had lit the fuse and thrown it straight at Gooble.

How would they respond?

As expected, Gooble’s reaction was swift.

[We use a portion of data that users have agreed to share, and it is solely for the purpose of improving service quality.]

They were quick to argue that it wasn’t unauthorized use.

However—

“This will only backfire.”

Just because someone clicked an “I agree” button, did that really give companies the right to use deeply personal data however they liked?

That logic only poured fuel on the fire.

[Some data may be used for AI training, but the process involves strict anonymization.]

But even the word “anonymized” didn’t erase the unease.

If someone copied your diary and said, “Well, at least I didn’t write your name,” wouldn’t that just make you even angrier?

Up to this point, everything was within expectations.

But what followed was a rather shocking claim.

[As Mr. Stark pointed out, anonymized data still comes from collective human activity. Because of its public nature, it is unfair for Gooble to claim it as its sole asset. Therefore, we will open up a portion of the data.]

Unbelievably, Gooble was actually offering to release some of its data.

‘…They’re going to release it?’

The data Gooble offered to “share” was a core asset.

It wasn’t full disclosure, of course—just a limited set of anonymized data.

Still, the fact that they were willing to part with even a piece of their asymmetrical advantage was shockingly bold.

I immediately saw through their intent.

“They’re going to share the bomb.”

Gooble was trying to “share” the bomb I had thrown at them.

That way, if the issue of data monopolization resurfaced later, they wouldn’t be the only target.

In short, Gooble was trying to make everyone who used the shared data a co-conspirator.

“I can’t believe they went with Plan H.”

But this, too, was one of the many scenarios I had already accounted for.

Although I thought the probability was below 5%, it still caught me off guard.

“Releasing data so readily—trying to act all high and mighty, huh.”

Stark gave a bitter smile.

“By giving away core assets, they’re sending the message that small startups like ours are no match for them anyway.”

Releasing data was a power move by the strong.

It only highlighted the overwhelming advantage Gooble possessed.

“This ruins the David and Goliath narrative we were going for.”

That was the story we had originally aimed for.

Gooble as the massive Goliath, and Stark as the young David just stepping into battle.

If things had gone as planned, Gooble’s rage in response to repeated “sharing” demands would’ve painted them as Big Tech persecuting a startup.

But instead, Goliath not only blocked David’s stone, he said, “This stone belongs to everyone,” and then handed out even more pebbles.

Things clearly weren’t going according to plan.

Still, there was no need to show concern.

It was a low-probability scenario, but one I had anticipated.

“It’s fine. We still have another card to play.”

Anticipating it also meant I had a counter-strategy prepared.

But Stark still couldn’t hide his anxiety.

“But… Will it even work? I feel like the gap has only widened because of this.”

“Sometimes, a powerful opponent allows for a unique strategy. Take Sputnik, for example.”

Sputnik.

The name of the world’s first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union.

After World War II, the United States believed it had a definitive lead in science and technology.

But unexpectedly, it was the Soviet Union that launched the first satellite.

The shock this gave the U.S. was overwhelming.

They were defeated head-on by a rival they thought was far behind.

That shock led to the creation of NASA and a massive infusion of funding.

And thus began the U.S.-Soviet space race.

Both nations competed fiercely to break record after record.

First animal in orbit, first photos of the moon, and the first human landing on the moon.

Though it all ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union…

The aerospace technology developed in the process was phenomenal.

That’s exactly the kind of scenario I want.

Gooble being the stronger side is no problem at all.

In fact, it’s because they’re the dominant force that a single decisive moment could change everything.

All I need is one Sputnik.

I’ve been waiting for it to be completed.

And not long ago, I got word from Alex.

“We’re ready.”

My Sputnik is finally complete.

***

One week later.

The curtain rose on Stark’s long-awaited presentation.

The venue was packed with journalists, investors, industry insiders, and even curious members of the general public.

Voices filled the air with a mix of excitement and curiosity.

“What do you think he’s going to reveal?”

“It’s the Stark. It’s not going to be something ordinary…”

“Maybe he’s finally unleashing the big one he’s been saving.”

Stark had maintained radio silence about his company.

No technical specs, no business plans, no product roadmaps—everything was shrouded in secrecy.

Which is why people believed that something monumental would finally be unveiled today.

Like Tesla and SpaceZ before it, Stark had always been the icon of disruptive innovation.

Just when the anticipation peaked, Stark walked onto the stage.

[Today, I’d like to introduce a simple research paper. We’ve prepared a proof of concept in collaboration with Next AI.]

The title of the presentation appeared on the screen behind him.

“Weighted Attention as Memory Routing”

Just reading the title gave the audience a sense of dread—

It sounded incredibly technical and complex.

“…He’s bringing a research paper to an event like this?”

People who had expected a flashy AI prototype or an eye-catching demo began murmuring with disappointment.

But Stark continued with a relaxed smile, unfazed.

[If you were expecting a standard paper presentation, think again. Today, I’m going to introduce a paradigm shift in AI technology. Because this paper contains the seed of a truly revolutionary idea.]

However—

Stark’s explanation that followed was pure tech-speak, with no effort to simplify.

[Traditional RNN-based models suffer from fading memory with long input sequences. We tackled this by incorporating an attention mechanism to fundamentally resolve the issue. Using weighted attention, the AI can extract key information and derive meaning from context…]

In the audience, people tilted their heads, looked around for cues, and some even began to stifle yawns.

It was inevitable.

The presentation was full of terminology only industry professionals could understand.

But—

The reactions from actual industry professionals in the room were very different.

“This is…”

“No way…”

“Wait, hold on…!”

Industry insiders were able to grasp the true significance of the research almost instantly.

‘Of course they did.’

Weighted Attention as Memory Routing—this attention mechanism was the very foundation that would later drive the explosive advancement of GPT-based models.

In other words, it was a catalyst—a turbo engine for AI.

‘Originally, this was supposed to be announced next year…’

And it was supposed to be Gooble that announced it.

But I had proposed this groundbreaking idea to the founders of Next AI last year, and asked them to develop it into a completed paper along with proof of concept.

And now, borrowing Stark’s massive megaphone, I was boldly introducing this innovation to the world.

As soon as the presentation ended, the venue erupted.

“How exactly does dynamic memory routing work?”

“How did you address the overfitting issues caused by attention weighting?”

“What’s your approach to optimization, considering increased GPU usage?”

Of course, the commotion came only from the professionals.

The general audience just looked around in confusion.

Their expressions said they had no idea what any of it meant.

However, even the expressions of those spectators started to change as they watched the excitement of the experts.

They didn’t understand the content, but they could instinctively grasp one thing.

‘This… is going to be huge.’

If the professionals were making such a fuss, then surely this meant a massive paradigm shift had occurred, right?

And that meant only one thing.

‘This… is going to make money!’

After the presentation, the heat of the event quickly spread to the media.

[Stark once again shakes up the industry. After electric cars and space, this time it’s AI.]

[What stands out is that this seemingly simple shift in methodology drastically reduced computational resource usage. AI research, once blocked by high infrastructure costs, is now within reach.]

[More importantly, the fact that this technology was released as open-source has brought the AI ecosystem into a new era overnight. Experts are calling it the beginning of an AI gold rush. The entire startup landscape is expected to be overhauled within six months.]

Everyone agreed: ‘The dawn of a new era has arrived.’

And it wasn’t an exaggeration.

Academic response, in particular, was explosive.

Leading universities and research institutions around the world began analyzing and trying to implement the mechanism Stark revealed—rapidly and without hesitation.

Replication experiments, structural analysis, extended applications.

Everyone dissected the architecture in their own way and ended up in awe.

—This is a truly groundbreaking invention. It’s not just repetitive data learning anymore. AI is finally beginning to understand and create.

—Deep learning just got deep. No more repetition—now it’s inference. This is where it really starts. Stark didn’t just make a model. He built a new intelligence civilization.

Some began comparing Stark to Newton or Einstein.

One meme site even started selling T-shirts printed with his face.

Naturally, the frenzy quickly reached the capital markets.

The first to react were venture capital firms.

They restructured their entire portfolios around AI and began contacting promising startups and research teams directly, offering funding.

A competitive rush to invest. A fear of missing out.

It was, in every sense, the beginning of a gold rush.

But the truly surprising event came next.

<Shark Capital invests $100M in OpenFrame>

<Maverick Investment joins AI surge… Ackman dreams of a grand comeback>

<Top Wall Street hedge funds rush into AI>

The biggest surprise?

These major hedge funds, normally cautious about emerging tech, were suddenly jumping in—aggressively, and with massive investments.

Of course, these were members of the Triangle Club whom I had already “convinced.”

But the outside world, unaware of that, interpreted the unusual behavior like this:

[Hedge funds usually don’t dive into technology in its early stages. They wait until it matures and hits a growth trajectory. For them to move now means…!]

[It means this AI revolution is imminent. That it’s about to transform the world through actual products and services.]

[And a big part of that is trust in Stark. Just like with electric cars and aerospace, they believe his innovations will reshape industries overnight.]

But then—

Unexpected news started pouring in.

<Hailbrook Capital invests $400M in Ossent>

<ReturnBridge Associates bets on Lumio infrastructure expansion>

<Conservative macro funds enter AI… but back Gooble, not Stark>

The same global macro funds that had always been cautious about new tech were now piling into AI.

But they weren’t backing Stark, the main figure behind the innovation.

They were choosing his rival—Gooble.

Debate erupted across the industry.

Some fund managers explained their reasoning like this:

[Now that the attention mechanism has been open-sourced, the competition is no longer about ideas—it’s about resources. GPUs, data centers, global infrastructure, talent, capital… And in that regard, Gooble still—no, especially now—has a massive advantage.]

The market was now running so hot it was dizzying.

Everyone could feel it.

Like the internet in the late ’90s, like smartphones in the 2010s—

AI was about to become the center of a new era.

And yet, in the eye of this storm of change, one place remained oddly quiet: Gooble.

***

“How… did this happen…?”

The mood at Gooble’s executive meeting turned icy.

They knew about attention mechanisms.

The idea had already been under discussion in their labs.

But they were still in the conceptual phase.

Meanwhile, Stark had taken that very concept, built it into a finished structure, and proven it before the world.

“How… could this happen…?”

“From a company not even a month old…?”

Stark had seized an insight that Gooble had only reached after years of trial and error—

All just as he was stepping into the industry.

To Gooble, it felt utterly unreal.

“I feel like the rabbit,” the CEO murmured bitterly.

It was a self-deprecating nod to The Tortoise and the Hare.

Like the rabbit in the fable, they had trusted in their superiority, only to be overtaken while they rested.

They had believed there was no way they could be caught—

Then, the CTO looked up and said firmly:

“No. We can’t afford to get complacent. Our opponent isn’t a tortoise.”

In the fable, the rabbit’s only flaw was overconfidence.

It had speed and skill but lost because it took a nap mid-race, assuming victory.

But Stark was different.

At this point, he was even faster than Gooble.

“And now… they have resources to match ours. Talent, GPUs, data—everything.”

What tormented Gooble’s executives the most was the fact that they had been the ones to give Stark those resources.

They had essentially handed over weapons to an immensely powerful rival.

Silence once again filled the boardroom.

Everyone regretted their decision to “share.”

Sure, they had their reasons at the time.

But now they realized— It had been nothing but arrogance.

The arrogance of believing that even if they handed out their most valuable core assets, no one could ever catch up.

But when they opened their eyes, Stark had already passed them at the starting line.

There was no time left to hesitate.

They couldn’t let the fear of monopoly backlash slow them anymore.

From this moment on, every second counted.

It was time to run with everything they had.

After a long pause, the CEO finally spoke.

“AlphaGo… If we bring the timeline forward as much as possible— How soon can we launch it?”