20170626

精选导读

1. 人工智能 (AI: Artificial Intelligence) 是计算机科学的一个分支，其研究包括了机器人、语言识别、图像识别、自然语言处理等。人工智能从诞生以来，理论和技术日益成熟，应用领域也不断扩大，可以设想，人工智能在将来所带来的科技产品，必将成为人类智慧的“容器”；

2. 美国某科技公司于上月宣布，其下一代图像识别技术将能允许人工智能识别图片中的对象和定位等，还能利用 AI 做到一些非常酷的事情。通过其知识图谱，人们不仅能识别图片或视频中的对象，还能识别面部表情和其周边的事物。可以看出，AI 和机器深度学习的深耕已经进入应用普及阶段。

英文原文

Your Camera Wants to Kill Your Keyboard

Technology has once again reached an inflection point. For years, smartphones relied on hardware keyboards, a holdover from the early days of cell phones. Then came multi-touch. Spurred by the wonders of the first smartphone screens, people swiped, typed, and pinched. Now, the way we engage with our phones is changing once again thanks to AI. Snapping a photo works as well, if not better, than writing a descriptive sentence in a search box. Casually chatting with an AI search engine assistant gets results as fast, if not faster, than opening a search engine browser and navigating from there. The upshot is that we're increasingly interacting with our computers in more natural and emotive ways, which could mean using your keyboard a lot less.

Ask the people who build your technology, and they'll tell you: The camera is the new keyboard. The catchy phrase is becoming something of an industry-wide mantra to describe the constant march toward more visual forms of communication. Point your camera at a tree, and it'll tell you the variety. Snap a pic of the new restaurant on your block, and it'll pull up the menu and hours, even help you book a reservation. This simplicity is a big deal. No longer does finding information require typing into a search box.

Suddenly the world, in all its complexity, can be understood just by aiming your camera at something.

It'll probably still be a while before the keyboard goes extinct, but with every shot you take on your camera, it's getting one step closer.

生词好句

​an inflection point: a change in direction, a sharp shift in direction, an event that results in a significant change, a time of sudden, noticeable, or important change in a industry, company, or market. (常用搭配: a turning point)

​holdover: n. a person or thing surviving from an earlier time. (relic / remnant / leftover)

​be spurred by: to urge or encourage / to provide an incentive (常用搭配: sth. is spurred on by sth.)

​the upshot: the conclusion, or the result. (常用搭配: the upshot of this)

​ask the people who…: it's an idiomatic expression, and we use it in informal writing and speaking. (Don't actually ask the person.)

​mantra: n. an often repeated word, expression, formula, or phrase to aid concentration in meditation.

​a big deal: an important or impressive person or thing / event

​still be a while: it will take more time, it is not ready or complete. (常用搭配: still be a while yet + It will > it'll)

"Artificial Intelligence is not a Man

versus Machine saga; it's in

fact, Man with Machine synergy."

Sudipto Ghosh, an Professor of Computer Science