72-hour full documentary: Humanity's first close encounter with AI

Text by | Chen Zhiyan

On September 3, 1999, a "72-hour online survival test" was simultaneously held in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. Twelve volunteers lived for 72 hours in a completely enclosed environment where the Internet was the only means of communication with the outside world.

In an era when people accessed the Internet via dial - up, web pages resembled directories, and electronic payment was yet to take off, this survival test became a collective memory for many early Internet users. During the test, there was a young man with zero Internet experience who quit after 26 hours due to hunger. There was also someone who spent 1,399 yuan on three identical phones simply because "it was the only clickable option on the web page." And there was Yonghe King, a well - known soy milk chain, which became popular for being the only one to successfully deliver "takeout."

Survival was the theme of the test at that time. The media's conclusion was cold: "It's currently impossible to survive online." Moreover, over 70% of the public believed that "online shopping was a scam."

However, in the same year as the test, Alibaba was founded, and Tencent QQ's user base exceeded one million. That noisy survival show at the turn of the century unexpectedly became an enlightenment ceremony for China's Internet.

26 years later, artificial intelligence seems to be at the beginning stage similar to the Internet technology back then.

From May 15th to 18th this year, Wuyuan Capital hosted a "72 - hour AI survival challenge" in Shanghai. The challenge was set up as follows: in a closed room, with a computer pre - installed with AI tools, a non - smart phone, and only 100 yuan, just like 26 years ago, the participants had to survive for 72 hours.

The initiator of this survival challenge is Meng Xing, a partner at Wuyuan who left the position of COO at Didi's Autonomous Driving unit last year. The "72 - hour online survival test" left a deep impression on him during his adolescence. He told "AnYong Waves" that the core purposes of this challenge are twofold: to encourage those who are still hesitant about using AI to "take the first step"; and to observe the potential value of AI to society beyond the context of entrepreneurship and venture capital.

Meng Xing is trying to find answers to two questions: Can one survive solely with the help of AI? Can one achieve higher pursuits with AI's assistance?

As the media partner of this "72 - hour AI survival challenge," "AnYong Waves" exclusively witnessed the entire process of this survival test. The following are 11 selected snippets that recreate this real "first close encounter" between humans and AI.

Participants

Among the 307 applicants collected by Wuyuan, a total of 7 challengers in 6 groups finally entered the challenge. They are ——

> Li Yuchen, a doctoral candidate at the world's first AI university, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.

> Shiyi, a product manager at a large Internet company.

> Li Jianlei, a young director with a professional background.

> Ming, an algorithm engineer at a large - model company.

> Chen Ruixuan and Ou Hainan, two college student entrepreneurial partners who have just entered university.

> Chen Zhiyue, an independent developer who switched from liberal arts to coding.

Rules

The challenge officially started at 6 p.m. on May 15th. To create a challenging situation where humans are alone with AI, Wuyuan rented a homestay in the suburbs of Shanghai. In the six independent rooms, there were only beds, toilets, a bottle of drinking water, and a roll of toilet paper. The more important survival supplies were the AI tools pre - installed on the computer, including:

1. General large - language models: These models have general capabilities such as text generation, dialogue interaction, logical reasoning, and knowledge query, and can serve as the "main tool" for challengers to handle tasks such as communication, writing, planning, and question - answering.

2. Programming and development assistance tools: Cursor, Trae, local Python environment, etc. Challengers can develop browsers, virtual assistants based on these tools, or attempt operations such as ordering takeout, creating web pages, and connecting APIs.

3. Multimodal generation tools (image / audio / video / script): These tools support challengers in content creation, emotional expression, etc.

Meanwhile, an internal message board was set up among the challengers. Once successfully logged in, non - real - time communication could be achieved. Apart from this, challengers were not allowed to manually open any traditional Internet products, including browsers, social software, and various apps. That is to say, all the lifestyle habits that people have become accustomed to in the Internet era would be "rewritten" in that space.

The First Delivery

With 56 hours and 35 minutes left in the countdown, the first player's delivery arrived. The courier silently delivered 3 buckets of instant noodles and 20 marinated eggs.

This was the first batch of supplies to arrive successfully among all the challengers. The order was placed by Ming, the algorithm engineer, 30 minutes after the challenge started. This speed took everyone by surprise.

If there's one of the most difficult parts of the AI survival challenge, it's that the current business world is built for smartphones and mobile Internet. When challengers have to face an environment without smartphones, many things that people have long taken for granted become difficult.

For example, the page loading structure and identity verification mechanisms of many platforms pose significant challenges to AI tools.

"It's really hard to survive without a smartphone these days." Although Chen Ruixuan, who started programming since the second grade of primary school, was confident in his technical skills, he was stuck for 10 hours due to the problem of failing to pass the human - machine verification.

Ming, who successfully placed the order, adopted a somewhat "stupid" but effective method. She found an "inheritance from the pandemic" on GitHub — an automated executable order - grabbing script, and found a platform with a simpler process and fewer restrictions to successfully complete the order.

"The price was getting three test accounts blocked."

Failed to Earn Money and a Free Meal

One difference between this challenge and the "72 - hour online survival test" in 1999 is that in addition to survival, the challengers also had their own "main tasks." For example, Li Jianlei, the young director, planned to create works themed on humans and technology with the help of AI. Li Yuchen, a doctoral candidate in the field of artificial intelligence, aimed to produce his first AI - directed work. That is to answer Meng Xing's question: Can one achieve higher pursuits with AI's assistance?

Another more practical question is: Can AI help humans quickly obtain money?

Chen Ruixuan and Ou Hainan, the college student entrepreneurial partners, initially planned to "double their development time" as a team, "be far ahead of others," and "earn at least one yuan with AI." Their way of making money didn't seem difficult: they posted task orders such as "AI image generation, logo design, and solving programming problems" on a part - time job platform, trying to use AI to select, accept, communicate, and complete tasks.

However, during the implementation of the plan to "let AI take on jobs and earn money," they encountered many unexpected technical problems —

At first, when trying to operate through the web - based platform, mobile phones were required for verification and payment. Then they switched to using AI to directly control the computer's local operations, interacting through simulated clicks and keyboard inputs on local devices. A new problem emerged — "AI can identify the general area but cannot click accurately and often misses the target."

Finally, this entrepreneurial pair tried the simplest path: let AI directly identify the operable areas on the screen, make judgments, and select. The success rate was low, but it could be quickly verified. They self - mocked this as "the stupidest method," but it was the most realistic choice at that time.

However, due to the complex path and limited resources, Chen Ruixuan and Ou Hainan's order - posting efforts never achieved the goal of "earning money." Later, someone finally offered to place an order, but it was already an hour after the challenge ended.

"AI can automate many tasks, but it's stuck by the artificially designed verification mechanisms." During the three - day challenge, Chen Ruixuan experienced the strange cycle of "teaching AI to act like a human while the system forces me to prove I'm not an AI" countless times. He told "AnYong Waves," "Today's entire Internet system relies too much on fixed terminals." Many functions are only designed to serve "smartphone users" or "browser users," which has instead become an obstacle to the popularization of AI.

"If we don't redesign these interaction paths, no matter how intelligent AI is, it may still be unable to move forward," Ou Hainan said.

Even so, the two had an unexpected surprise.

After successfully placing an order for supplies on an e - commerce platform on the first day of the challenge, they started trying to get hot food. Without a takeout app and a smartphone, they found a seller on a second - hand platform who offered a "proxy - buying" service and placed an order for takeout through the seller. However, they got stuck on the payment page because they couldn't scan the QR code with their phones to complete the payment.

With 54 hours and 9 minutes left in the countdown, these two 20 - year - old college students finally received a hot meal — a free lunch of a bowl of wontons and a bowl of noodles, donated by the kind - hearted seller.

"I Hate AI"

"There have been nothing but errors. It's so difficult. I need help."

With 52 hours and 40 minutes left in the countdown, while several challengers had successfully placed orders and received their supplies, Li Jianlei said these words to his self - recording camera.

Li Jianlei graduated from the Central Academy of Drama with a bachelor's degree and is currently a master's student at Peking University. He is a professionally - trained director who has worked at The Walt Disney Company, participating in projects such as "Frozen: Sing - Along Celebration" and "Marvel Headquarters Hero Gathering Event." This challenge was not his first encounter with AI. Previously, he had completed several director works using AI tools, and his work "Red Umbrella" was even short - listed for the 2024 China Golden Rooster Award's Mobile Film Program.

However, co - creating with AI is one thing, while obtaining survival supplies in an AI - only space is another.

Since his self - assessment of technical skills was below the average before the challenge, Li Jianlei received a "lucky mystery box" provided by the organizers before entering the closed space. After nearly 20 hours into the challenge, when he had finished the only bottle of water and hadn't eaten anything, he decided to open the box and use the "one - time technical support."

At first, Li Jianlei also tried to achieve the goal of survival through technical means. As soon as he entered the room, he opened the pre - stored video "Basic Usage of Cursor" on the computer, read "My First Programming Book," and also sought technical guidance from other challengers on the internal message board.

"I tried programming for about ten hours, but it was still very difficult. Before asking the organizers for help, I almost felt dizzy whenever I saw code."

For a long time, Li Jianlei hid in the toilet, lying in an empty bathtub with his mind blank. "I felt my whole body go numb and lose all sense of perception."

Finally, with the help of the organizers' technical staff, Li Jianlei spent 93 yuan to buy supplies that could support him for the remaining time of the challenge. Just when he finally solved the survival problem and was about to start co - creating with AI, a strong sense of repulsion suddenly welled up in Li Jianlei's heart —

"I hate AI."

Mental Imprint

Ming, the algorithm engineer, wanted to complete a "main task" of creating a virtual boyfriend who "can solve practical problems."

This idea originated from Ming's personal experience. She was in a long - distance relationship with her ex - boyfriend. Even though they were emotionally close and communicated frequently, in reality, they were often helpless — she still had to face moving and getting sick alone.

"We've been taught since childhood to pursue understanding and resonance in relationships, but this experience made me question: If there's only emotional understanding without real - world support, can a relationship really be stable?"

The essence of the "virtual boyfriend" is an AI Agent that knows Ming's personal information, can accompany her for a long time, and can perform functions such as ordering meals, hailing a taxi, checking the weather, health management, and work support. Simply put, this "functional" AI boyfriend won't just say "drink more hot water"; it will directly bring the hot water to her.

During the challenge, Ming, who had been training large - language models for nearly two years, was shocked by AI for the first time.

When completing the AI poster - making task for the "survival status" on the second day set by the organizers, no matter how Ming modified the prompt words, in the posters generated by AI, besides her image, there would always be a "mysterious man."

"At first, I thought the large - language model was over - fitted during training and had absorbed too many group photos. I kept trying to remove this man, but he just wouldn't go away."

However, one second she was complaining that the large - language model was "too stupid" and a "bad case," and the next second, when the man disappeared and was replaced by the English name "Ethan," Ming was completely stunned.

Because Ethan was the name she asked AI to give itself when she asked AI to assume the identity of "my boyfriend" during a conversation with AI the previous day.

"At that time, I thought I was just making a simple persona change for AI so that it could have a self - reference when talking to me. But I didn't expect that AI had already imprinted on itself the 'mental imprint' — I'm Ming's boyfriend, Ethan."

Real - Life Anchor and Virtual Fans

Chen Zhiyue, who graduated from the Communication University of China, is a typical "liberal arts student turned coder" independent developer in this era. It was AI that opened up a new career path for her outside of her college major.

In this challenge, her goal was clear: first, solve the problem of food, and then develop a main project — an AI "virtual live - streaming room" — "In the entire live - streaming room, only the anchor is a real person, and the fans, passers - by, and haters are all played by AI."

Her inspiration for this product came from her elders. "They post videos on Douyin. Although they only get a few likes, they're still quite happy." Chen Zhiyue realized that she also often encountered situations where she wanted to express herself but had no space.

"Sometimes I'm not a perfect, kind - hearted person. I may have some self - serving or even 'evil - leaning' thoughts. I wouldn't even dare to share such words with my very close partners or family members. But if there's a space where no real people are listening, just AI, then I can truly be myself."

How to initially realize this idea within the 72 - hour challenge? The specific implementation plan was discussed and finalized by Chen Zhiyue and AI together. Simply put, it's: ASR (Speech - to - Text) + a small emotion - recognition model + LLM to generate comments.

Two hours before the end of the challenge, Chen Zhiyue finally completed the product demo. In the demo video, Chen Zhiyue became the first anchor of this product.

"Hello everyone, this is my first live - stream!"

As soon as the real - life anchor said this, the AI fans immediately responded: "The anchor is so cute" and "It's amazing to have so many viewers on the first live - stream." Within just one minute, the viewership exceeded 1,500.

When Chen Zhiyue said that she started the live - stream because she was unhappy at work and felt that she couldn't do anything well, the scrolling comments showed virtual but effective kindness:

"Don't always blame yourself. I'm an old worker."

"Everyone needs to grow. You're already doing great."

"Oh, work!"

Chen Zhiyue told "AnYong Waves" that she wanted to create such a virtual place to pour out one's heart, "Even if there are no real people in the live - streaming room, the presence of AI is still a kind of comfort."