人工智能是福还是祸

人工智能是福还是祸When people think of artificial intelligence （Al）— the study of the design of intelligent systems and machines ― talking computers often come to mind. But most Al researchers are focused less on producing clever conversationalists and more on developing intelligent systems that make people&apos ；s lives easier—from software that can recognize objects and animals，to digital assistants that cater to1 ），and even anticipate，their owners&apos ；needs and desires.But several prominent thinkers ，including the famed physicist Stephen Hawking and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk2），warn that the development of Al should be cause for concern.人工智能（Al）研究的是智能系统和智能机器的设计，当人们想到它时，脑中出现的往往是会说话的计算机。

但大多数人工智能研究者更为关注的不是制造聪明、健谈的机器，而是开发可以让人们的生活更加便利的智能系统，从可以识别物品和动物的软件，到能够迎合甚至预见主人需求和愿望的数字助手等等，不一而足。

但是，包括著名物理学家斯蒂芬?霍金和亿万富翁企业家埃隆?马斯克在内的一些富于思考的知名人士提醒大家，人工智能的发展应该引起我们的担忧。

Since the field of AI was officially founded in the mid-1950s ，people have been predicting the rise of conscious machines. Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil ，director of engineering at Google ，refers to a point in time known as "the singularity3 ) "，when machine intelligence exceeds human intelligence. Based on the exponential4 ) growth of technology according toMoore&apos ；s Law( which states that computing processing power doubles approximately every two years )，Kurzweil has predicted the singularity will occur by 2045.But cycles of hype5) and disappointment ― the so-called "winters of AI" ― have characterized the history of artificial intelligence ，as grandiose6) predictions failed to come to fruition7 ) .Nevertheless ，a number of prominent science and technology experts have expressed worry that humanity is not doing enough to prepare for the rise of artificial general intelligence8 )，if and when9 ) it does occur. Recently ，Hawking issued a dire10 ) warning about the threat of AI."The development of full artificial intelligencecould spell11) the end of the human race ，" Hawking told the BBC ，in response to a question about his new voice recognition system，which uses artificial intelligence to predict intended words. ( Hawking has suffered from a neurological disease ，and communicates using specialized speech software. )And Hawking isn&apos ；t alone. Musk told an audience at MIT that AI is humanity&apos ；s "biggest existential threat". He also once tweeted12 )，"We needto be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes13 ) ." Current computers can already complete many tasks typically performed by humans. But possessing humanlike intelligence remains a long way off. "I think we&apos ；re still very far from the singularity. This isn&apos ；t a subjectthat most AI researchers are working toward." Ng said.Instead ，companies like Google focus on making technology more helpful and intuitive20 ) . And nowhere is this more evident than in the smartphone market.人工智能是一个涉及面广、活跃度高的研究领域，但它已不再仅仅是学者们的研究范畴；如今，各大公司都越来越多地将人工智能融入自己的产品之中。

在这一领域，有一个名字被不断提及，那就是谷歌。

从智能手机助手到无人驾驶汽车，这家总部位于旧金山湾区的科技巨头正在为成为未来人工智能领域的主力做准备。

谷歌在机器学习领域的应用方面一直都是先驱――机器学习是指那些能够通过数据进行学习而非盲目听从命令的计算机系统。

特别是该公司使用了一套总称为“深度学习” 的机器学习算法，它们使计算机能够进行诸如从大量数据中识别图案等的操作。

斯坦福大学人工智能研究员、现任中国搜索引擎百度的首席科学家吴恩达表示，目前，谷歌和百度(有时被称为“中国的谷歌”)这两家公司包括语音识别、网络搜索及广告投放在内的许多产品都具有深度学习的功能。

现有的计算机已经可以完成很多通常由人类来完成的工作，但是它们离拥有与人类相似的智力仍有很大的差距。

“我认为我们距离奇点还非常遥远。

奇点并不是大多数人工智能研究者正在研究的方向。

”吴恩达说。

相反，谷歌等公司却致力于让科技变得更有用、更好用。

这一点在智能手机市场比在任何领域都要表现得更为明显。

In the 2013 movie Her ，actor JoaquinPhoenix&apos ；s21) character falls in love with his computer operating system ，Samantha，a computer-basedpersonal assistant who becomes sentient22 ). The film is obviously a product of Hollywood ，but experts say that the movie gets at least one thing right ：Technology will take on increasingly personal roles in people&apos ；s daily lives，and will learn human habits and predict people&apos ；s needs.Anyone with an iPhone is probably familiar withApple&apos ；s digital assistant Siri，first introduced as a feature on the iPhone 4S in October 2011. Siri can answer simple questions ，conduct Web searches and perform other basic functions. Microsoft&apos ；s equivalent is Cortana ，a digital assistant available on Windows phones. And Google has the Google app GoogleNow23 )，available for Android phones or iPhones，which bills itself as24 ) providing "the information you want ，when you need it".For example，Google Now can show traffic information during your daily commute25 )，or give you shopping list reminders while you&apos ；re at the store. You can ask the app questions ，such as "Should I wear a sweater tomorrow ？" and it will give you the weather forecast. And ，perhaps a bit creepily26 )，you can ask it to"show me all my photos of dogs" (or cats，sunsets or even a person&apos ；s name)，and the app will find photosthat fit that description ，even if you haven&apos；t labeled them as such.While a phone that can learn your commute ，answer your questions or recognize what a dog looks like may seem sophisticated27 )，it still pales28 ) in comparison with a human being. In some areas ，AI is no more advanced than a toddler. Yet，when asked，many AI researchers admit that the day when machines rival human intelligence will ultimately come. The question is ，are people ready for it ？在2013 年上映的电影《她》中，华金?菲尼克斯饰演的角色爱上了自己的计算机操作系统萨曼莎，一个通过计算机提供服务、变得具有感知力的私人助理。