“Mr. Nolan,” Matteo and Raven both stood up to greet him upon seeing Nolan walk through the door. There was no surprise on Nolan’s face upon seeing Raven.
Raven politely introduced herself again, “Hello, Mr. Nolan. My name is Raven Brown. We met before at the technology exhibition—”
“I know,” Nolan replied, his face neutral, extending his hand to shake hers.
Once Nolan sat down, Raven took the seat next to him and said, “I have always admired you, and I’ve been hoping for an opportunity to meet you, to discuss the AI field with you face to face.”
Nolan simply responded with a brief, “Mm.”
At this moment, Matteo’s phone rang. He stood up, saying to Nolan and Raven, “I’ll step out to take this call. Please, continue your discussion.”
Raven nodded.
After Matteo left, Raven picked up the menu and handed it to Nolan, saying, “Mr. Nolan, let’s order first and then chat while we eat?”
Nolan pushed the menu aside, saying, “Not yet.”
Raven paused, unsure of what he meant. Before she could react, Nolan directly spoke, “Do you want to be my student?”
Raven hadn’t expected him to be so direct. Nolan was straightforward, and despite his status as one of the top figures in the AI field, Raven wasn’t intimidated. Calmly and confidently, she admitted, “Yes, I am very interested in the AI field, and I hope to learn from you to achieve even greater progress.”
Since she had come to meet Nolan, she had prepared well in advance. She then took out her computer and said, “Let me show you the product I developed when I graduated with my PhD.”
Nolan scrolled through her graduation project. After going through a few sets of data, he said in a low voice, “As a graduation project, it is indeed much better than what most doctoral students present.”
Upon hearing this, Raven’s smile deepened, and her confidence grew. She was about to speak when Nolan let go of the mouse, his gaze shifting from the computer as he asked, “Is this what you completed this year?”
Raven answered, “Yes.”
“Nothing else?”
Raven hesitated, unsure of whether he was satisfied with her work and expecting more highlights, or whether he wasn’t satisfied but still wanted to give her a chance. However, she knew she had consistently ranked at the top of her class, received numerous awards, and her doctoral advisor was highly praised. Her advisor was a significant figure in A Country’s aerospace program, having participated in several space missions. The praise she received from her advisor carried considerable weight! So, she had ample confidence in her expertise.
With that thought, her mind settled, and she said, “I conducted a technical analysis of the exhibits from the last technology exhibition. Would you like to hear it?”
“Go ahead.”
Raven then began to explain the technical details of an autonomous car exhibited at the previous exhibition, focusing on its core aspects of perception, planning, and control. She spoke continuously for over ten minutes, during which Matteo returned briefly to take another important phone call.
As Raven was about to continue her explanation, Nolan suddenly looked up and said, “That’s enough.”
Raven paused.
Nolan stood up and gave his final evaluation: “Your fundamental knowledge is fairly solid, but it’s not quite up to my standards for accepting students.”
Raven froze for a moment, then bit her lip. This wasn’t the answer she had hoped for.
Nolan moved toward the door, about to leave, when Raven quickly stepped forward and asked, “Mr. Nolan, what do you think I should do to improve?”
Nolan paused for a moment, then coldly replied, “Do more research, and pay more attention to new developments in the field.”
Matteo looked at Raven, noticing her pout, and said, “What exactly did Mr. Nolan say? Tell me.”
Raven then explained the process, as well as Nolan’s evaluation.
“You really are quite capable,” Matteo said. “I think his advice is very reasonable.”
Raven paused. She realized that she had indeed been slacking off in terms of professional development and hadn’t been keeping up with new developments in the field. Nolan must have noticed that she hadn’t been putting enough effort in, and felt that her attitude toward her profession wasn’t serious enough. Perhaps that’s why he decided not to take her on as a student.
Thinking that it wasn’t a question of her ability but rather her attitude towards the profession, Raven’s mood lightened a lot.
Matteo said, “You can try again next time.”
Raven smiled. “I will.” She believed that as long as she corrected her attitude, with her professional skills, it wouldn’t be difficult to pass Nolan’s standards next time.
As she thought about this, she couldn’t help but regret having spent too much time focusing on racing recently. If she hadn’t, perhaps she would already be one of Nolan’s students by now.
Nolan returned to his villa. Inside the villa, Freya and Johnny had just finished shopping for and cleaning the ingredients, preparing for a hot pot meal.
When Nolan walked in, Johnny said, “You’re back so soon?”
Nolan took off his coat, his tone still indifferent. “Mm.”
Johnny glanced at Freya, who was bringing out ingredients. Nolan didn’t respond, taking the bowl from Freya. The silence was a clear answer.
Johnny chuckled and raised an eyebrow at Freya. Freya smiled and told him to go back to the kitchen to bring out the remaining meat. Johnny brought the meat out, then curiously asked, “Teacher, what level do you think she’s at?”
“She’s slightly above the level of a typical outstanding PhD graduate.”
“Great minds think alike.”
The AI field in America had developed rapidly over the past decade. The domestic technologies were already quite a bit ahead of the global standard. As one of the core figures in this field, Nolan was surrounded by world-class products, technologies, and talents every day. In comparison, Raven’s abilities, while excellent among ordinary people, still paled in comparison to the people Nolan worked with daily. And as for him and Freya, there was simply no comparison. After all, Raven was already twenty-five, and she still couldn’t even touch the edges of the CUAP that Freya had developed many years ago.