2022年经济学人 人工智能带来公平（2）

Ms Lobel’s call to use more, not less, personal information challenges data-privacy orthodoxy.

洛贝尔呼吁更多地使用个人信息，这挑战了数据隐私的正统观念。

But she insists that “tracking differences is key to detecting disparities.”

但她坚持认为，“追踪差异是发现不公的关键。

She advocates a careful loosening of intellectual-property rules to provide more transparency over algorithmic decisions.

她主张谨慎地放松知识产权规则，为算法决策提供更多的透明度。

And she floats the idea of a sort of affirmative action in AI to support disadvantaged groups.

她还提出了在人工智能领域采取平权行动来支持弱势群体的想法。

For instance, an algorithm that serves adverts¹ for highly paid jobs to men—because they mostly clinched² such posts in the past—can be programmed to show them equally to women.

例如，可以使用编程，将为男性提供高薪工作广告的算法，改为同样向女性显示这些职位的算法-因为在过去大多都是男性获得这样的职位。

As Ms Lobel says, AI need not merely reproduce or entrench³ old biases⁴.

正如洛贝尔所说，人工智能不需要仅仅重现或巩固已有的偏见。

It can help expose them.

它可以帮助揭露这些偏见。

And it is easier to fix an algorithm than it is to change people’s minds.

而且，修复一个算法比改变人们的想法容易。

The problems with algorithmic formulae are tackled in depth in “Escape from Model Land” by Erica Thompson of the London School of Economics.

伦敦政治经济学院的艾瑞卡·汤普森在《逃出模型岛》中深入探讨了算法公式的问题。

These statistical⁵ models are the backbone⁶ of big data and AI: if data is the input⁷, algorithms are the tool and models are the product.

这些统计模型是大数据和人工智能的支柱：如果数据是输入，那么算法就是工具，模型就是产品。

They are everywhere, from e-commerce tips to economic and climate-change forecasts.

从电子商务小贴士到经济和气候变化预测，它们无处不在。

Yet rather like the full-scale map of an empire imagined by the writer Jorge Luis Borges, a perfect model of the teeming⁸ world will always be beyond reach.

然而，就像作家豪尔赫·路易斯·博尔赫斯想象的帝国全尺寸地图一样，这个人口稠密世界的完美模型永远遥不可及。

The task is to ensure that the abstractions correspond to reality as far as is humanly possible.

我们的任务是确保这些抽象概念尽可能与现实相对应。

“All models are wrong,” runs a venerable saying. “Some are useful.”

“所有模型都是错的，”一句睿智的谚语如是说。“但其中有些是有用的。”

Ms Thompson focuses on a challenge she calls the Hawkmoth Effect.

汤普森关注的是一种她称之为“鹰蛾效应”的挑战。

In the better known Butterfly Effect, a serviceable model becomes less reliable over time because of the complexity⁹ of what it is simulating, or because of inaccuracies in the original data.

在更广为人知的“蝴蝶效应”中，可用的模型会随着时间的推移变得不那么可靠，原因或是它所模拟的东西很复杂，或是原始数据不准确。

In the case of climate change, say, this might lead to a prediction for rising temperatures being out by a fraction of a degree.

以气候变化为例，这可能会导致气温上升的预测出现零点几度的偏差。

In the Hawkmoth Effect, by contrast, the model itself is flawed; it might fail to take full account of the interplay between humidity, wind and temperature.

相比之下，在鹰蛾效应中，模型本身就是有缺陷的；它可能没有充分考虑湿度、风和温度之间的相互作用。

This sort of mistake can be much more misleading, and much harder to rectify¹⁰.

这类错误可能更具误导性，也更难纠正。

The author calls on data geeks to improve their solutions to real-world issues, not merely refine their formulae—in other words, to escape from model land.

该作者呼吁数据极客改进他们对现实世界问题的解决方案，而不仅仅是完善他们的公式--换句话说，要逃出模型岛。

“We do not need to have the best possible answer,” she writes, “only a reasonable one.”

“我们不需要最好的答案，”她写道，“只需要一个合理的答案。”

Before there is a statistical model, she notes, there is a mental version.

她指出，在统计模型之前，还有一个心理版本。

Data scientists need self-awareness and empathy as well as mathematical skill.

数据科学家不仅需要数学技能，还需要有自我意识和同理心。

Both these books exhibit a healthy realism about data, algorithms and their limitations.

这两本书都展示了关于数据、算法及其局限性的健康现实主义。

Both recognise that making progress involves accepting constraints¹¹, whether in law or coding.

也都认识到，要想取得进展，就要接受法律或编码方面的约束。

Ms Lobel calls on AI practitioners¹² to remedy the technology’s problems; Ms Thompson asks data scientists to be conscious of the choices and values in a model’s design.

洛贝尔呼吁人工智能从业者纠正这项技术的问题；汤普森要求数据科学家意识到模型设计中的选择和价值。

Their reflections offer the basis for a constructive¹³ agenda.

二位的意见为建设性议程提供了基础。

As Ms Lobel puts it: “It’s always better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”

正如洛贝尔所说：“与其诅咒黑暗，不如点燃蜡烛。”

1 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。

2 clinched   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• The two businessmen clinched the deal quickly. 两位生意人很快达成了协议。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Evidently this information clinched the matter. 显然，这一消息使问题得以最终解决。 来自辞典例句

3 entrench   

v.使根深蒂固；n.壕沟；防御设施

参考例句：

• A series of measures were designed to entrench democracy and the rule of law.采取一系列措施旨在巩固民主和法制。
• These dictators have entrenched themselves politically and are difficult to move.这些独裁者在政治上已经站稳了脚跟，很难推翻他们。

4 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

5 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

6 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

7 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

8 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

9 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

10 rectify   

v.订正，矫正，改正

参考例句：

• The matter will rectify itself in a few days.那件事过几天就会变好。
• You can rectify this fault if you insert a slash.插人一条斜线便可以纠正此错误。

11 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

13 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。