雅思阅读丨连霍金都开始担心人工智能

关于人工智能飞速发展是否会对人类安全产产生威胁，越来越多的人表示担心，期中就包括最杰出的科学家之一——斯蒂芬·霍金。霍金表示，人工智能可能会终结人类！对此，各位是怎么看的呢？今天的雅思阅读频道，新航道小编就带大家探讨一下霍金的观点。

He told the BBC:"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."

His warning came in response to a question about a revamp of the technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of AI.

The theoretical physicist, who has the motor neurone disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is using a new system developed by Intel to speak.

斯蒂芬·霍金教授，英国杰出科学家之一，曾说道，人类致力于创造可以思考的机器，而这可能会对我们的存在造成极大的威胁。

他告诉BBC：“人工智能的完全发展可能会终结人类。”

他所使用的交流技术需要更新换代，而这一技术又恰好是AI的一种基本形式，于是有人提出相关疑问，霍金此番警告是对此作出的回应。

霍金，这位患有运动神经元疾病——肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症的理论物理学家，正在使用一种因特尔发明的新系统来与人对话。

Machine learning experts from the British company Swiftkey were also involved in its creation. Their technology, already employed as a smartphone keyboard app, learns how the professor thinks and suggests the words he might want to use next.

Prof Hawking says the primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far have already proved very useful, but he fears the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans.

英国公司Swiftkey的机器学习专家们也参与到了这项科技的研发中。他们的技术能够学习霍金的思维方式并对他下句话可能会用到的词语给出建议，它已经作为一个手机键盘APP发布使用了。

霍金教授说，目前为止开发出来的人工智能原始形态已被证实其有用性，但是他担心，创造这种可以配合甚至超越人类的事物，其结果可能会令人忧心。

Stanley Kubrick's film 2001 and its murderous computer HAL encapsulate many people's fears of how AI could pose a threat to human life.

"It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate," he said.

"Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete, and would be superseded."

But others are less pessimistic.

"I believe we will remain in charge of the technology for a decently long time and the potential of it to solve many of the world problems will be realised," said Rollo Carpenter, creator of Cleverbot.

Cleverbot's software learns from its past conversations, and has gained high scores in the Turing test, fooling a high proportion of people into believing they are talking to a human.

Cleverbot is software that is designed to chat like a human would.

图为2001年上映的斯坦利·库布里执导电影中出现的杀人计算机HAL，它的形象让许多人对AI的威胁感到恐惧。

他说：“它会自己脱离轨道，然后以越来越快的速度重新设计自己。”

“人类受限于缓慢的生物进化，是无法与之匹敌的，于是最后就会被它取代。”

但其它人则没有这么悲观。

Cleverbot机器人的发明者娄罗·卡朋特说道：“我相信，我们仍将长时间保持对科技的统治地位，而它解决诸多世界问题的潜力也将得到释放。”

Cleverbot的软件从它过往的交流中进行学习，并在图灵测试中取得了高分，让许多人都相信它是人类。

Cleverbot被专门设计得可以像人类那样对话。

Rise of the robots

Mr Carpenter says we are a long way from having the computing power or developing the algorithms needed to achieve full artificial intelligence, but believes it will come in the next few decades.

"We cannot quite know what will happen if a machine exceeds our own intelligence, so we can't know if we'll be infinitely helped by it, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it," he says.

But he is betting that AI is going to be a positive force.

Prof Hawking is not alone in fearing for the future.

In the short term, there are concerns that clever machines capable of undertaking tasks done by humans until now will swiftly destroy millions of jobs.

Elon Musk, chief executive of rocket-maker Space X, also fears artificial intelligence.

In the longer term, the technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has warned that AI is "our biggest existential threat".

机器人的崛起

卡朋特先生说，距离我们真正具备这样的计算机实力或者说发展出可以实现完全人工智能化的算法，还有很长一段路要走，但是，他相信，这样的愿景在未来几十年中将得到实现。

他说：“我们无法明确地知道，如果机器智商超越人类会怎么样，所以我们也无法知道，自己是会受到它无限制的帮助，还是遭它无视冷落，抑或是完全被它毁灭。”

但是，他打赌，AI将会成为一项积极的推动力。

担心未来的并不只是霍金教授一人。

就目前来说，很多人担心，聪明过人的机器有能力去完成人类的任务，而它们也会很快地消灭掉成千上万的职业。

火箭制造商Space X的董事长艾伦·马斯克也对人工智能抱有畏惧之心。

从长期来看，科技巨头艾伦·马斯克也曾警告道人工智能是“人类存在的威胁”。

Robotic voice

In his BBC interview, Prof Hawking also talks of the benefits and dangers of the internet.

He quotes the director of GCHQ's warning about the net becoming the command centre for terrorists: "More must be done by the internet companies to counter the threat, but the difficulty is to do this without sacrificing freedom and privacy."

He has, however, been an enthusiastic early adopter of all kinds of communication technologies and is looking forward to being able to write much faster with his new system.

Prof Hawking is using new software to speak, but has opted to keep the same voice.

But one aspect of his own tech - his computer generated voice - has not changed in the latest update.

Prof Hawking concedes that it's slightly robotic, but insists he didn't want a more natural voice.

"It has become my trademark, and I wouldn't change it for a more natural voice with a British accent," he said.

"I'm told that children who need a computer voice, want one like mine."

机器人的声音

在他与BBC进行的访谈中，霍金教授也谈到了互联网的利弊。

他引用了英国政府通信总部主管对于网络将成为恐怖分子指挥中心的警告：“互联网公司应该采取更多举动来反击这样的威胁，但困难在于，如何在不牺牲自由和隐私的情况下做到这一点。”

不过，他一直以来都是各种交流技术的积极尝鲜者，也很期待在新系统的协助下能够更快地打字。

霍金教授正在使用新软件进行对话，但依然选择了同样的声音。

但是他自己所用技术的一部分——他那电脑生成的声音——在一次升级中并没有变化。

霍金教授承认道，它的确稍微有些机器人化，但他坚持不使用自然点的声音。

他说：“这已经成了我的商标，我不会把它改成一个有着英国口音的自然声音的。”

“我听说，像我一样需要计算机来替代发声的孩子们都想要和我一样的声音。”

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