Downsides of AI

Limiting the downsides of artificial intelligence

• • • [Limiting the downsides of artificial intelligence]
      • [本周任务说明]
      • [外刊文章]
      • [篇章分析]
      • [中文平行文本阅读]
      • [英文平行文本阅读]

本周任务说明

• Day1：地道表达：任务A（必做）：1-4段；任务B（选做）:全篇

• Day2：篇章分析：全篇逻辑分析

• Day3：语音任务：任务A（必做）：第2段熟读/背诵；任务B：11/12段读熟/背诵，或自选复述、背诵等段落

• Day4：平行阅读练习

  • 文章：FT《中国科技巨擘竞逐人工智能》

  • 研读重点：结合前几周get到的专业背景知识，通过本篇文章检验阅读效果。

  • 方法：请第一遍阅读英文文本，并不要查字典；阅读第二遍时再查字典、看中英文对照。并记录：

    1. 阅读第一遍时间、理解全文内容的百分比；
    2. 查词、中文对照后阅读第二遍时间、理解了全文内容的百分比。

• Day5：英文平行文本

  • 霍金：人工智能是人类最大的幸运还是不幸？ 时长5:24
  • http://open.163.com/movie/2016/11/L/D/MC4GRHFTJ_MC4GRSQLD.html

• Day6：复习任务

  • 就本周任务文章、或英文平行文本，进行英语语音、写作、翻译、复述等自选练习。

外刊文章

1. The latest report on the potentially malicious uses of artificial intelligence reads like a pitch for the next series of the dystopian TV show Black Mirror.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：最近的关于人工智能的【可能的恶意】应用的报道读起来就和电视剧《黑镜》下一系列的【消极幻想】的【腔调/论调】。
     • potentially：with the capacity to develop or happen in the future.
     • malicious：characterized by malice[the intention or desire to do evil; ill will.]; intending or intended to do harm.
     • a pitch：the level of intensity of something.
     • dystopian：relating to or denoting an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

   • （2）篇章分析

     • 目的：基调比较消极/恐怖，摆出悬念
     • 方法：这简直和某个著名的东西一模一样，你想不想知道？哈哈哈

2. Drones using facial recognition technology to hunt down and kill victims. Information being manipulated to distort the social media feeds of targeted individuals. Cleaning robots being hacked to bomb VIPs. The potentially harmful uses of AI are as vast as the human imagination.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：【无人机】用【面部识别】技术去猎杀受害者。信息被【肆意操控】，用以用于【改变/使失真】社会媒体【去潜移默化地影响】目标。清洁版机器人被【黑掉用以共计】VIPs。人工智能潜在被进行恶意应用简直极尽人类的想象。
     • 某个东西 using/being不是传统的表达方式，应该是有省略，如何判定？
     • the social media feeds of targeted individuals如果是个人供稿，feeds of为什么不用被动语态？或者意思是将失真信息供给目标个体?
     • as vast as the human imagination：极尽想象之能事
     • Drones：a remote-controlled pilotless aircraft or missile.；还有一个意思：a low continuous humming sound.
     • facial recognition：面部识别
     • manipulated：handle or control (a tool, mechanism, etc.), typically in a skillful manner.
     • distort：change the form of (an electrical signal or sound wave) during transmission, amplification, or other processing.
     • feeds of：cause to move gradually and steadily, typically through a confined space.
     • hacked：use a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system.
     • bomb：attack (a place or vehicle) with a bomb or bombs.
     • vast：of very great extent or quantity; immense

   • （2）篇章分析

     • 目的：以举例子的方式描述被恶意应用的恐怖未来
     • 方法：举例子+总结（你就极尽想象吧，反正很恐怖）

3. One of the big questions of our age is: how can we maximise the undoubted benefits of AI while limiting its downsides? It is a tough challenge. All technologies are dualistic, particularly so with AI given it can significantly increase the scale and potency of malicious acts and lower their costs.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：我们当前面临的问题是：如何在最大化发挥AI的那些毫无疑问的优点的同时限制那些负面影响呢？这是一个挑战，所有技术都是【两面性】的，尤其AI还能显著增加恶意应用的规模和可能性，并且降低它的成本。how？Why？
     • so with AI given it 的意思是AI技术的两面性？
     • 确认过眼神，是相对的两个词：【benifits】和【downsides】
     • dualistic
     • dualistic
     • potency

   • （2）篇章分析

     • 目的：提出问题了——这么可怕有什么办法嘛？
     • 方法：我们也不是放弃哦，我们大家都不怀疑它的好处，但能不能把坏处扼杀？
     • 回答？：你清醒一点，这很难哎，你看AI这种技术天生就带着要命的恶意应用的便利性和吸引力啊。

4. The report, written by 26 researchers from several organisations including OpenAI, Oxford and Cambridge universities, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, performs a valuable, if scary, service in flagging the threats from the abuse of powerful technology by rogue states, criminals and terrorists. Where it is less compelling is coming up with possible solutions.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：26个来自于不同机构的研究人员撰写的报告展现了一个可能有点【可怕】但有用的服务，【提示！】【流氓政府】、犯罪分子、恐怖主义利用力量技术【负面】所带来的威胁。报告再提出可能的解决办法方面的说服力较小。
     • Where it is less的意思是【报告里面】，而不是那些政府、犯罪分子啊……
     • scary：frightening; causing fear.
     • flagging：mark (an item) for attention or treatment in a specified way.
     • abuse：use (something) to bad effect or for a bad purpose; misuse.
     • rogue states：a nation or state regarded as breaking international law and posing a threat to the security of other nations.
     • compelling：evoking interest, attention, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way.

   • （2）篇章分析

     • 目的：就上个问题继续陈述难度
     • 方法：你看这么多权威的人凑在一起出了份报告，但最终也只是提示了风险，并没有拿出解决办法呀！所以，好难~

5. Much of the public concern about AI focuses on the threat of an emergent superintelligence and the mass extinction of our species. There is no doubt that the issue of how to “control” artificial general intelligence, as it is known, is a fascinating and worthwhile debate. But in the words of one AI expert, it is probably “a second half of the 21st century problem”.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：

   • （2）篇章分析

6. The latest report highlights how we should already be worrying today about the abuse of relatively narrow AI. Human evil, incompetence and poor design will remain a bigger threat for the foreseeable future than some omnipotent and omniscient Terminator-style Skynet.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：

   • （2）篇章分析

7. AI academics have led a commendable campaign to highlight the dangers of so-called lethal autonomous weapons systems. The United Nations is now trying to turn that initiative into workable international protocols.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：

   • （2）篇章分析

8. Some interested philanthropists, including Elon Musk and Sam Altman, have also sunk money into research institutes focusing on AI safety, including one that co-wrote the report. Normally, researchers who call for more money to be spent on research should be treated with some scepticism. But there are estimated to be just 100 researchers in the western world grappling with the issue. That seems far too few, given the scale of the challenge.

   • （1）地道表达

     • 译文：

   • （2）篇章分析

9. Governments need to raise their understanding in this area. In the US, the creation of a federal robotics commission to develop relevant governmental expertise would be a good idea. The British government is sensibly expanding the remit of the Alan Turing Institute to encompass AI.

   • （1）地道表达

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   • （2）篇章分析

10. Some tech companies have already engaged the public on ethical issues concerning AI, and the rest should be encouraged to do so. Arguably, they should also be held liable for the misuse of their AI-enabled products in the same way that pharmaceutical firms are responsible for the harmful side-effects of their drugs.

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*   （2）篇章分析

11. Companies should be deterred from rushing AI-enabled products to market before they have been adequately tested. Just as the potential flaws of cyber security systems are sometimes explored by co-operative hackers, so AI services should be stress-tested by other expert users before their release.

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12. Ultimately, we should be realistic that only so much can ever be done to limit the abuse of AI. Rogue regimes will inevitably use it for bad ends. We cannot uninvent scientific discovery. But we should, at least, do everything possible to restrain its most immediate and obvious downsides.

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*   （2）篇章分析

篇章分析

中文平行文本阅读

研读重点：

英文平行文本阅读