2022年经济学人 人工智能带来公平（1）

Culture

文化板块

Book review: Technology and fairness

书评：科技与公平

The algorithm’s mercy

算法的仁慈

Many books focus on the problems of big data and artificial intelligence; two new ones offer refreshingly¹ positive solutions.

许多书关注的都是大数据和人工智能的问题；而两本新书提供了令人耳目一新的积极解决方案

The Equality Machine. By Orly Lobel.

《平等机器》奥利·罗贝尔著

Escape from Model Land. By Erica Thompson.

《逃出模型岛》艾瑞卡·汤普森著

Two years ago, when Elinor Lobel was 16, a “smart” insulin pump was attached to her body.

两年前，16岁的埃莉诺·洛贝尔身上连接了一台“智能”胰岛素泵。

Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), it tracks her glucose² levels and administers the right dose of insulin at the right time to keep her healthy.

它由人工智能(AI)提供动力，跟踪她的葡萄糖水平，并在正确的时间注射正确剂量的胰岛素，让她保持健康。

It is a miraculous³ innovation for diabetes⁴ sufferers and just one of myriad⁵ new ways that data and AI can help improve lives.

对于糖尿病患者来说，这种创新堪称奇迹，而这只是数据和人工智能帮助人们改善生活的无数新方式之一。

Books that decry⁶ the dark side of data abound⁷.

谴责数据阴暗面的书比比皆是。

With menacing titles such as “Weapons of Math Destruction” and “Algorithms of Oppression”, they suggest that there is much more to fear than fete in the algorithmic age.

《数学杀伤性武器》和《压抑算法》等具有威胁性的标题表明，在算法时代，比起狂欢，人们更应该恐惧。

The public is duly alarmed; ditto policymakers.

不出所料，公众警觉了起来；政策制定者也是如此。

For instance, a proposed European Union directive may hold back some educational applications of AI, such as its use in marking exams.

例如，一项拟议的欧盟指令可能会对人工智能在教育领域的一些应用造成阻碍，比如用人工智能阅卷。

But the intellectual tide may be turning.

但知识界的潮流可能正在发生转变。

One of the most persuasive⁸ proponents⁹ of a more balanced view is Elinor Lobel’s mother, Orly, a law professor at the University of San Diego.

以更平衡的视角看待这一问题的人中，最有说服力的一位是埃莉诺·洛贝尔的母亲奥利，她是圣地亚哥大学的法学教授。

In “The Equality Machine” she acknowledges AI’s capacity to produce skewed and harmful results.

在《平等机器》中，她承认人工智能有能力产生扭曲和有害结果。

But she shows how, in the right hands, it can also be used to combat inequality and discrimination.

但她也展示了，在正确的人手中，人工智能也可以用来打击不平等和歧视。

“We need to cut through the utopian/dystopian dualism,” she writes.

“我们需要打破不是乌托邦就是反乌托邦的二元论，”她写道。

“The goal should be progress, not perfection.”

“目标应该是进步，而不是完美。”

For example, women selling goods on eBay tend to receive less money than men for the same item.

例如，在易贝上卖同样的东西，女性赚的钱往往比男性少。

Apprised¹⁰ of that bias¹¹, the website can hide vendors’ personal details until an offer is made, or alert them to higher prices in similar transactions.

在得知存在这种偏见后，网站可以在有人出价前隐藏卖家的个人信息，或者提醒他们在类似交易中出现了更高的价格。

Meanwhile women looking for jobs are less likely than men to respond to postings that use military jargon¹² such as “mission critical” and “hero”.

与此同时，对于使用“关键任务”和“英雄”等军事术语的招聘启事，女性求职者做出回应的可能性要比男性低。

Textio, an AI firm, helps companies recruit female employees by scanning listings and recommending alternative language.

人工智能公司Textio能够扫描列表，并推荐替代用语来帮助公司招聘女性员工。

“The Equality Machine” buzzes with such examples, revealing a hidden world of coders, data scientists and activists¹³ who are working on the technical means to achieve ethical¹⁴ ends, not simply griping about AI’s lapses¹⁵.

《平等机器》中有很多这样的例子，它揭示了一个由程序员、数据科学家和活动家组成的隐秘世界，他们致力于通过技术手段实现道德目标，而不仅仅是抱怨人工智能的失误。

The book aptly describes the workings of various AI systems, but its main contribution is to reframe problems in constructive¹⁶ ways.

这本书恰当地描述了各种人工智能系统的工作原理，但它的主要贡献是以建设性的方式重新定义问题。

A tenet of privacy rules is “minimisation”: collect and retain as little information as possible, especially in areas such as race, gender¹⁷ and sexual orientation¹⁸.

隐私规则的一个原则是“最小化”：收集和保留尽可能少的信息，尤其是在种族、性别和性取向等领域。

Ms Lobel flips¹⁹ the script, showing how in countless²⁰ cases of medical diagnosis²¹ and treatment, as well as in hiring, pay and the legal system, knowing such characteristics can lead to fairer outcomes.

而洛贝尔选择了相反的立场，她展示了在无数的医疗诊断和治疗案例中，以及在招聘、薪酬和法律体系方面，了解这些个人信息可以带来更公平的结果。

For example, in the past American regulators did not track the performance of medical devices by the sex of patients, though an independent study suggested women experience twice as many deaths and injuries as men.

例如，过去美国监管机构没有根据患者的性别来跟踪医疗器械的性能，尽管一项独立研究表明，女性的死亡和受伤人数是男性的两倍。

1 refreshingly   

adv.清爽地，有精神地

参考例句：

• Hers is less workmanlike than the other books and refreshingly unideological. 她的书不像其它书那般精巧，并且不涉及意识形态也让人耳目一新。 来自互联网
• Skin is left refreshingly clean with no pore-clogging residue. 皮肤留下清爽干净，没有孔隙堵塞残留。 来自互联网

2 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。

3 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

4 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

5 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

6 decry   

v.危难，谴责

参考例句：

• Some people will decry this,insisting that President Obama should have tried harder to gain bipartisan support.有些人会对此表示谴责，坚持说奥巴马总统原本应该更加努力获得两党的支持。
• Now you decry him as another Hitler because he is a threat to the controlling interest of oil in the middle east.现在你却因为他对中东石油控制权益构成了威胁而谴责他为另一个希特勒。

7 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

8 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

9 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

10 apprised   

v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价

参考例句：

• We were fully apprised of the situation. 我们完全获悉当时的情况。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I have apprised him of your arrival. 我已经告诉他你要来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

12 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

13 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

15 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

16 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

17 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

18 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

19 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

20 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

21 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。