经济学人：马斯克重磅推出TruthGPT
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
The world this week - Business
Elon Musk said he would launch a new artificial-intelligence platform called TruthGPT as a rival to ChatGPT and other generative-AI bots, somewhat contradicting his recent call for a moratorium on developing such technology.
But Mr Musk reiterated his concerns about AI’s potential to cause harm, even claiming it could cause the destruction of civilisation.
It has emerged that Mr Musk has created a new company, X.AI, incorporated in Nevada.
Mr Musk’s fascination with the letter X extends to Twitter, which has now changed its official company name to X Corp and moved its incorporation location from Delaware to Nevada.
Mr Musk has a long-stated goal of creating X, “an everything app”.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s boss, warned that the world was not ready for the rapid changes that new AI will bring, saying it would “impact every product across every company” (though that isn’t stopping Google from racing ahead to integrate generative AI into its advertising, according to a report).
Mr Pichai said the problem of fake imagery would become much worse.
In one recent example an image of Pope Francis in a white puffer coat went viral on social media before it was revealed to have been generated by AI.
Fox News reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over the broadcaster’s fake claims that Dominion’s machines helped “steal” the election in 2020 from Donald Trump.
The $787.5m settlement is the biggest ever in a media defamation case.
The deal was reached just ahead of a trial that would have called Rupert Murdoch, who controls Fox, as a witness.
In pre-trial hearings the judge had dismissed Fox’s claim that it was merely reporting allegations, and said the jury’s task would be to determine if it had acted maliciously.
Britain’s annual rate of inflation dipped in March to 10.1%, still stubbornly high and now twice America’s rate of 5%.
Food prices rose the most in 45 years.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, promises to cut inflation by half this year.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March didn’t harm business at most of America’s big banks in the first quarter.
Net profit was up by around 50% at JPMorgan Chase, year on year, 32% at Wells Fargo, 15% at Bank of America and 7% at Citigroup.
Profit plummeted by 18% at Goldman Sachs, however, because of poor revenue from fixed income, currencies and commodities trading.
Profit was also down at Morgan Stanley, by 19%.
VOCABULARY
1. moratorium on sth.: a temporary stopping of an activity, especially by official agreement 暂停，中止（尤指经官方同意的）。例如：The convention called for a two-year moratorium on commercial whaling. 会议呼吁两年内暂停商业捕鲸活动。
2. reiterate v. (formal) to repeat sth. that you have already said, especially to emphasize it 反复地说；重申
3. defamation n. (formal) the act of damaging sb.'s reputation by saying or writing bad or false things about them 诬蔑；诽谤；中伤。例如：The company sued for defamation. 这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。
4. maliciously adj. having or showing hatred and a desire to harm sb. or hurt their feelings 怀有恶意的；恶毒的
QUESTIONS
Listen to the news and choose the best answer to each question you hear.
1. What is Elon Musk's new artificial-intelligence platform called?
A) TruthGPT.
B) ChatGPT.
C) X.AI.
D) X Corp.
2. According to Elon Musk, what is the potential harm of AI?
A) It could cause the destruction of civilization.
B) It could bring rapid changes to every product and company.
C) It could generate fake imagery.
D) It could steal elections.
3. Who reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems?
A) Fox News.
B) Google.
C) Twitter.
D) X Corp.
4. What is Britain's annual rate of inflation in March?
A) 5%.
B) 7%.
C) 10.1%.
D) 18%.
5. Which bank experienced a significant decline in profit?
A) JPMorgan Chase.
B) Wells Fargo.
C) Bank of America.
D) Goldman Sachs.
KEY
1. What is Elon Musk's new artificial-intelligence platform called?
A) TruthGPT.
B) ChatGPT.
C) X.AI.
D) X Corp.
【答案】A
【解析】根据文章，Elon Musk发布了一个名为TruthGPT的新人工智能平台。
2. According to Elon Musk, what is the potential harm of AI?
A) It could cause the destruction of civilization.
B) It could bring rapid changes to every product and company.
C) It could generate fake imagery.
D) It could steal elections.
【答案】A
【解析】根据文章，Elon Musk表达了对人工智能潜在危害的担忧，声称它可能导致文明的毁灭。
3. Who reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems?
A) Fox News.
B) Google.
C) Twitter.
D) X Corp.
【答案】A
【解析】根据文章，Fox News与Dominion Voting Systems达成了和解。
4. What is Britain's annual rate of inflation in March?
A) 5%.
B) 7%.
C) 10.1%.
D) 18%.
【答案】 C
【解析】根据文章，英国三月的年通胀率为10.1%。
5. Which bank experienced a significant decline in profit?
A) JPMorgan Chase.
B) Wells Fargo.
C) Bank of America.
D) Goldman Sachs.
【答案】D
【解析】根据文章，Goldman Sachs的利润出现显著下降。
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