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Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Sam.
大家好。这里是 BBC 学习英语栏目的六分钟英语。我是萨姆。
And I’m Neil.
我是尼尔。
In the autumn of 2021, something strange happened at the Google headquarters in California’s Silicon Valley.
2021年秋天，位于加利福尼亚州硅谷的谷歌总部发生了一件奇怪的事情。
A software engineer called, Blake Lemoine, was working on the artificial intelligence project, ‘Language Models for Dialogue Applications’, or LaMDA for short.
软件工程师布莱克·莱莫因当时正在做人工智能项目——“对话应用程序的语言模型”，简称LaMDA。
LaMDA is a chatbot – a computer programme designed to have conversations with humans over the internet.
LaMDA是一个聊天机器人，即一种旨在通过互联网与人类对话的计算机程序。
After months talking with LaMDA on topics ranging from movies to the meaning of life, Blake came to a surprising conclusion: the chatbot was an intelligent person with wishes and rights that should be respected.
布莱克与LaMDA交谈了几个月，他们从电影聊到人生意义，无话不谈。布莱克从中得出了一个惊人的结论：这个聊天机器人有人类的智力，有自己的期许，而且它的权利应该被尊重。
For Blake, LaMDA was a Google employee, not a machine.
对布莱克来说， LaMDA是谷歌的一名员工，而不是一台机器。
He also called it his ‘friend’.
他还称 LaMDA为“朋友”。
Google quickly reassigned Blake from the project, announcing that his ideas were not supported by the evidence.
谷歌迅速将布雷克从该项目中调了出来，宣布他的结论没有证据支持。
But what exactly was going on?
但时到底发生了什么？
In this programme, we’ll be discussing whether artificial intelligence is capable of consciousness.
在本期节目中，我们将讨论人工智能是否具有人类意识。
We’ll hear from one expert who thinks AI is not as intelligent as we sometimes think, and as usual, we’ll be learning some new vocabulary as well.
我们会听到一位专家的意见。他认为人工智能并不像我们有时认为的那么智能，像往常一样，我们也会学习一些新的词汇。
But before that, I have a question for you, Neil.
但在此之前，我有个问题要问你，尼尔。
What happened to Blake Lemoine is strangely similar to the 2013 Hollywood movie, Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a lonely writer who talks with his computer, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
布莱克·莱莫因的遭遇与2013年的好莱坞电影《她》出奇地相似。杰昆·菲尼克斯在片中饰演一个孤独的与电脑交谈的作家，由斯嘉丽·约翰逊配音。
But what happens at the end of the movie?
但是电影的结局如何呢？
Is it a) the computer comes to life? b) the computer dreams about the writer? or, c) the writer falls in love with the computer?
a)电脑活过来了 b) 电脑梦到了作家，还是 c) 作家爱上了电脑？
c) the writer falls in love with the computer.
我选c) 作家爱上了电脑。
OK, Neil, I’ll reveal the answer at the end of the programme.
好的，尼尔，我会在节目结束时揭晓答案。
Although Hollywood is full of movies about robots coming to life, Emily Bender, professor of linguistics and computing at the University of Washington, thinks AI isn’t that smart.
虽然好莱坞有很多电影讲机器人复活，但华盛顿大学语言学和计算机系教授艾米丽·本德认为人工智能并不那么智能。
She thinks the words we use to talk about technology, phrases like ‘machine learning’, give a false impression about what computers can and can’t do.
她认为，我们给技术起的名字，比如“机器学习”，给人一种关于计算机能做什么、不能做什么的错误印象。
Here is Professor Bender discussing another misleading phrase, ‘speech recognition’, with BBC World Service programme, The Inquiry.
本德教授在BBC世界服务栏目《调查》节目中讨论过另一个误导性的短语——“语音识别”。
If you talk about ‘automatic speech recognition’, the term ‘recognition’ suggests that there's something cognitive going on, where I think a better term would be automatic transcription.
“自动语音识别”中的‘识别’一词暗示着某种认知活动。我认为这种技术叫“自动转录”应该更好。
That just describes the input-output relation, and not any theory or wishful thinking about what the computer is doing to be able to achieve that.
这个词只是描述了输入输出的过程，而不会让人觉得计算机能实现转录是因为有了人的意识。
Using words like ‘recognition’ in relation to computers gives the idea that something cognitive is happening – something related to the mental processes of thinking, knowing, learning and understanding.
在与计算机相关的词汇中使用“识别”一词，会让人觉得计算机有认知能力，即思考、认知、学习和理解的能力。
But thinking and knowing are human, not machine, activities.
但思考和认识是人类的活动，机器无法做到。
Professor Bender says that talking about them in connection with computers is wishful thinking – something which is unlikely to happen.
本德教授说，认为计算机有认知能力只是痴心妄想，即这不太可能发生。
The problem with using words in this way is that it reinforces what Professor Bender calls, technical bias – the assumption that the computer is always right.
用这种词来指代计算机技术，加深了本德教授所说的技术偏见，即预设计算机总是正确的。
When we encounter language that sounds natural, but is coming from a computer, humans can’t help but imagine a mind behind the language, even when there isn’t one.
当我们发现计算机输出的语言非常自然流畅时，会忍不住想象计算机有一个大脑，即使它并没有。
In other words, we anthropomorphise computers – we treat them as if they were human.
换句话说，我们将计算机拟人化了，即我们像对待人类一样对待它们。
Here’s Professor Bender again, discussing this idea with Charmaine Cozier, presenter of BBC World Service’s, the Inquiry.
在BBC世界服务栏目《调查》节目中，本德教授与主持人夏曼·科齐尔讨论了这个想法。
So “ism” means system, “anthro” or “anthropo” means human, and “morph” means shape.
“ism”指系统， “anthro” 或 “anthropo”指人，“morph”的意思是形状。
And so this is a system that puts the shape of a human on something, and in this case the something is a computer.
所以，这个词的意思是，将人的形状放在某个东西上的系统，即拟人化。计算机正是被拟人化了。
We anthropomorphise animals all the time, but we also anthropomorphise action figures, or dolls, or companies when we talk about companies having intentions and so on.
我们总是将动物拟人化。我们也将人偶、玩偶或公司拟人化，尤其是提到公司的目标等等。
We very much are in the habit of seeing ourselves in the world around us.
我们在很大程度上习惯于将身边的东西拟人化。
And while we’re busy seeing ourselves by assigning human traits to things that are not, we risk being blindsided.
我们忙于给各种非人物体赋予人的特征时，就已经冒着被吓到的风险。
The more fluent that text is, the more different topics it can converse on, the more chances there are to get taken in.
这种拟人化的文本越流畅，它越可以应用在不同的话题上，人们也越容易被它蒙蔽。
If we treat computers as if they could think, we might get blindsided, or unpleasantly surprised.
如果我们把电脑当作会思考的东西来对待，我们可能会措手不及，或者说大吃一惊。
Artificial intelligence works by finding patterns in massive amounts of data, so it can seem like we’re talking with a human, instead of a machine doing data analysis.
人工智能的工作原理是在海量数据中寻找模式，因此它可以像人一样与我们交谈，而不像是一个分析数据的机器。
As a result, we get taken in – we’re tricked or deceived into thinking we’re dealing with a human, or with something intelligent.
结果，我们就被骗了，以为自己是在和人类或者某种有智力的生物打交道。“get taken in”意为上当受骗。
Powerful AI can make machines appear conscious, but even tech giants like Google are years away from building computers that can dream or fall in love.
强大的人工智能可以让机器看起来有意识，但即使是谷歌这样的科技巨头，也要很多年才能制造出可以做梦或爱上别人的计算机。
Speaking of which, Sam, what was the answer to your question?
说到这里，萨姆，你问题的答案是什么？
I asked what happened in the 2013 movie, Her.
我问你2013年的电影《她》结局如何。
Neil thought that the main character falls in love with his computer, which was the correct answer! OK.
尼尔认为是主人公爱上了电脑，这是正确的答案！好的。
Right, it’s time to recap the vocabulary we’ve learned from this programme about AI, including chatbots - computer programmes designed to interact with humans over the internet.
好了，是时候回顾一下本期有关人工智能的词汇了。“chatbot”是聊天机器人，一种能在网上与人类互动的计算机程序。
The adjective cognitive describes anything connected with the mental processes of knowing, learning and understanding.
形容词“cognitive”用来形容任何与认识、学习和理解的思维过程有关的东西。
Wishful thinking means thinking that something which is very unlikely to happen might happen one day in the future.
“wishful thinking”是一种想法，认为不太可能发生的事情在未来的某一天可能会发生。
To anthropomorphise an object means to treat it as if it were human, even though it’s not.
“anthropomorphise”某物，意为像对待人类一样对待它，即使它不是人。
When you’re blindsided, you’re surprised in a negative way.
“be blindsided”，意为对不好的事感到惊讶。
And finally, to get taken in by someone means to be deceived or tricked by them.
最后，“to get taken in by someone”意为，被某人欺骗。
My computer tells me that our six minutes are up!
我的电脑告诉我，我们的六分钟到了！
Join us again soon, for now it’s goodbye from us. Bye!
欢迎再次加入我们。下期再见！再见!
