美国国家公共电台 NPR--Experts issue a dire warning about AI and encourage limits be imposed

Experts issue a dire¹ warning about AI and encourage limits be imposed

Transcript²

A statement from hundreds of tech leaders carries a stark³ warning: artificial intelligence (AI) poses an existential threat to humanity. With just 22 words, the statement reads, "Mitigating⁴ the risk of extinction⁵ from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."

Among the tech leaders, CEOs and scientists who signed the statement that was issued Tuesday is Scott Niekum, an associate professor who heads the Safe, Confident, and Aligned⁶ Learning + Robotics (SCALAR) lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Niekum tells NPR's Leila Fadel on Morning Edition that AI has progressed so fast that the threats are still uncalculated, from near-term impacts on minority populations to longer-term catastrophic outcomes. "We really need to be ready to deal with those problems," Niekum said.

"We don't really know how to accurately⁷ communicate to AI systems what we want them to do. So imagine I want to teach a robot how to jump. So I say, "Hey, I'm going to give you a reward for every inch you get off the ground." Maybe the robot decides just to go grab a ladder and climb up it and it's accomplished⁸ the goal I set out for it. But in a way that's very different from what I wanted it to do. And that maybe has side effects on the world. Maybe it's scratched something with the ladder. Maybe I didn't want it touching⁹ the ladder in the first place. And if you swap¹⁰ out a ladder and a robot for self-driving cars or AI weapon systems or other things, that may take our statements very literally¹¹ and do things very different from what we wanted.

Why would scientists have unleashed¹² AI without considering the consequences?

There are huge upsides to AI if we can control it. But one of the reasons that we put the statement out is that we feel like the study of safety and regulation of AI and mitigation of the harms, both short-term and long-term, has been understudied compared to the huge gain of capabilities¹³ that we've seen...And we need time to catch up and resources to do so.

What are some of the harms already experienced because of AI technology?

A lot of them, unfortunately, as many things do, fall with a higher burden on minority populations. So, for example, facial recognition systems work more poorly on Black people and have led to false arrests. Misinformation has gotten amplified¹⁴ by these systems...But it's a spectrum¹⁵. And as these systems become more and more capable, the types of risks and the levels of those risks almost certainly are going to continue to increase.

AI is such a broad term. What kind of technology are we talking about?

AI is not just any one thing. It's really a set of technologies that allow us to get computers to do things for us, often by learning from data. This can be things as simple as doing elevator scheduling in a more efficient way, or ambulance versus¹⁶ ambulance figuring out which one to dispatch based on a bunch of data we have about the current state of affairs in the city or of the patients.

It can go all the way to the other end of having extremely general agents. So something like ChatGPT where it operates in the domain¹⁷ of language where you can do so many different things. You can write a short story for somebody, you can give them medical advice. You can generate code that could be used to hack¹⁸ and bring up some of these dangers. And what many companies are interested in building is something called AGI, artificial general intelligence, which colloquially¹⁹, essentially²⁰ means that it's an AI system that can do most or all of the tasks that a human can do at least at a human level.

1 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

4 mitigating   

v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Are there any mitigating circumstances in this case ? 本案中是否有任何情况可以减轻被告的罪行？ 来自辞典例句
• A sentencing judge is required to consider any mitigating circumstances befor imposing the death penalty. 在处死刑之前，要求量刑法官必须考虑是否有任何减轻罪行之情节。 来自口语例句

5 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

6 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

7 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

8 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

9 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

10 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

14 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

15 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

16 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

17 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

18 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

19 colloquially   

adv.用白话，用通俗语

参考例句：

• For some little time the Jurymen hang about the Sol's Ams colloquially. 那些陪审员在太阳徽酒店里呆着，东拉西扯地谈了一会儿。 来自辞典例句
• This building is colloquially referred to as the barn. 这个建筑，用通俗的话来说就是一个谷仓。 来自互联网

20 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。