ChatGPT之父谈人工智能发展

常速/词汇：CET-4 /775词/3min45s

刘立军 供稿

Part I. QUESTIONS

Listen to the interview and choose the best answer to each question you hear.

Q1. Who are the two people being interviewed by The Economist’s editor-in-chief?

A. Founders of OpenAI.

B. Investors in artificial intelligence.

C. CEOs shaping the future of artificial intelligence.

D. Government regulators in tech industry.

Q2. What unique aspect of AI technology diffusion does Satya Nadella mention?

A. It has a global impact on health care and education.

B. It is restricted to specific industries like government spending.

C. It is happening slowly and only in certain locations.

D. It focuses mainly on personal health advice.

Q3. According to Sam Altman, what is the real power of GPT-4 as he sees it?

A. To replace a significant percentage of human tasks.

B. To provide detailed predictions for each task it will handle.

C. To become an independent companion for knowledge work.

D. To serve as a productivity tool within people’s workflow.

Q4. What is Sam Altman’s stance on the nature of the progress in AI technology?

A. He believes AGI will bring about radical changes overnight.

B. He thinks the progress is incremental and not overly disruptive.

C. He claims that there will be a permanent global panic due to AGI.

D. He insists that deep human motivations will remain unchanged.

Q5. Why does Sam Altman believe people should maintain flexible opinions about AI?

A. Because AI technology tends to evolve in unexpected ways.

B. So that experts can provide better predictions on AI’s future.

C. To prevent public panic over the sudden emergence of AGI.

D. As a response to the constant changes in technology regulations.

Q6. What is the main subject of the discussion according to Zanny Minton Beddoes’ statements?

A. The rapid spread of AI across various sectors.

B. The impact of GPT-4 on the future workforce.

C. The challenges and unpredictability of technological revolutions.

D. Safety and regulation concerns surrounding AI technology.

Q7. Why, according to Satya Nadella, will nation-states play a role in AI technology development?

A. Because they own the majority of technology companies.

B. As they can influence what technology is ready for deployment.

C. Since they have the sole responsibility for public safety.

D. Due to their financial investments in the AI industry.

Q8. How does Sam Altman describe the control over AI deployment?

A. As a straightforward process with clear regulations.

B. Like a magic button that could destroy data centers.

C. Involving nuanced decisions about risks and values.

D. As a series of autonomous decisions made by AI itself.

Q9. Based on the interview, what seems to be a common theme regarding the future of AI?

A. A certainty about the positive effects of AI on society.

B. The belief that AGI will reshape the job market entirely.

C. An acceptance that change is inevitable and continuous.

D. An anticipation of complete unpredictability post-AGI.

Part II. TRANSCRIPT

Narrator: (Q1) These are two of the most important people shaping the future of artificial intelligence: Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT and Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest investor. They spoke to The Economist’s editor-in-chief about what the future of AI really looks like.

Zanny Minton Beddoes: Sam, let’s start with you. What are the most important capabilities that ChatGPT will develop in the next year?

Sam Altman: The world had like a two-week freakout with GPT-4, right? “This changes everything; AGI is coming tomorrow; there are no jobs by the end of the year.” And now people are like, “Why is it so slow?” And I love that. I think that’s a great thing about the human spirit — that we always want more and better.

freakout n. 心烦意乱

Satya Nadella: We’ve not had this where there has been some general-purpose technology whose diffusion happened instantaneously everywhere: in any place, health care and education is most of the government spend. (Q2) You now have, right, the ability to give every student and every citizen of the globe better health advice and a better personalized tutor.

diffusion n. 扩散，传播

Sam Altman: You know, I often think one interesting way to measure this is, “What per cent of tasks can GPT-4 do?” Let’s say it’s 10%. Can GPT-5 do 12% of human tasks? Or 15%, or 20%? (Q3) But the fact is that so many people are able to use it for productivity in their workflow, that’s the power and I know it’s not a satisfying as saying here’s each thing it will do, but it’s that it becomes a companion for knowledge work. It becomes a way to use a computer.

Zanny Minton Beddoes: I hear that and that’s an absolutely appropriate answer to my question, but I guess I’m trying to get at the sense of whether this is incremental or whether it’s radical, even in the next year?

incremental adj. 逐渐的，逐步的

Sam Altman: (Q4) I believe that someday we will make something that qualifies as an AGI by whatever fuzzy definition you want, the world will have a two-week freakout and then people will go on with their lives.

fuzzy definition模糊定义

Zanny Minton Beddoes: Sam Altman just said the world would only have a two-week freakout when we get to AGI, that’s quite a statement to make.

Sam Altman: One thing I say a lot is no one knows what happens next, and I can’t see to the other side of that event horizon with any detail. But it does seem like the deep human motivations will not go anywhere.

Zanny Minton Beddoes: This is when people start getting alarmed that we have no idea …

Sam Altman: Why? Well, I think that just…

Zanny Minton Beddoes: We’re going to have an intelligence that is more intelligent than all of us and we have no idea what happens next.

Sam Altman: No, no. One thing I love to do is go back and read about the contemporaneous accounts of technological revolutions at the time. (Q5) And the expert predictions are just always totally wrong.

contemporaneous adj. 同时发生（或存在）的；同时期的；同时代的

Zanny Minton Beddoes: That’s a very good point.

Sam Altman: And you need to have some flexibility in your opinions and look, have a tight feedback loop with how it’s going with the world.

a tight feedback loop 快速且频繁的信息反馈和响应

Zanny Minton Beddoes: (Q6) The amount of focus on safety and regulation is sort of very, very high. Tell me whether you think regulators have got it right or whether we’re not doing enough.

Satya Nadella: At this point, you know, if I look at what the White House EO is or what the UK Safety Summit is, what’s happening in Europe, what’s happening in Japan, they are going to have a say. (Q7) Nation states are absolutely going to have a say …

Sam Altman: Absolutely.

Satya Nadella: … on what is the regulation that controls any technology development, most importantly, what is ready for deployment or not. And so I feel like we will all be subject to those regs.

deployment n. 部署，调集；有效利用

reg n. 规则，法规（regulation的缩写）

Zanny Minton Beddoes: If you were ever in that room and you thought just of — “this is getting dangerous and this could actually have consequences that I would not want upon the world,” would you then shout “stop” and would you stop?

Sam Altman: There’s no, like, one big magic red button we have that blows up the data center, which I think some people sort of assume exists. It’s not this binary “go/stop” decision. (Q8) It is the many little decisions along the way about “allow this, don’t allow this, how to predict, what the risks of the future are going to be, how to mitigate those, set this new value here”, things like that.

binary adj. 双重的

mitigate v. 减轻；缓和

Part III. KEY

Q1. C.细节题。根据文本第一句：“These are two of the most important people shaping the future of artificial intelligence: Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft ...”（“这两位是塑造人工智能未来的最重要人物：OpenAI的首席执行官Sam Altman和微软的首席执行官Satya Nadella，OpenAI最大的投资者。”）该句指出被采访的两个人是塑造人工智能未来的重要人物。选项C正确反映了文中描述的职位和影响力。选项A、B和D均与文本信息不符。因此答案为C。

Q2. A.细节题。Satya Nadella提到的AI技术传播的独特方面是：“You now have, right, the ability to give every student and every citizen of the globe better health advice and a better personalized tutor.”（“你现在有能力给全球每一个学生和每一个公民更好的健康建议和更好的个性化辅导。”）这表示AI技术的普及具有全球性影响，尤其是在健康和教育领域。因此答案为A。

Q3.D.细节题。Sam Altman认为GPT-4的真正力量体现在文中他所说的：“But the fact is that so many people are able to use it for productivity in their workflow ...”（“但事实是如此多的人能够在他们的工作流程中使用它来提高生产力……”）意味着GPT-4成为人们工作流程中的生产力工具。因此答案为D。

Q4. B.推理题。Sam Altman对人工智能技术进步的性质进行了提示，他没有直接说这是渐进的还是激进的，但通过他的话：“I believe that someday we will make something that qualifies as an AGI ... the world will have a two-week freakout and then people will go on with their lives.”（“我相信总有一天我们将制造出能够被称为AGI的东西……世界会有两周的恐慌，然后人们会继续他们的生活。”）可以推断他认为AI技术的进步是不可避免的，但不会引起持久的巨大冲击，而是在短暂的轰动后归于平静。因此答案为B。

Q5.A.推理题。Sam Altman认为，关于AI的意见应保持灵活，因为他谈到回顾历史上和各大技术革命同时代的报告时，专家的预测总是完全错误的（“And the expert predictions are just always totally wrong.”）这意味着人们应该对AI技术的发展保持开放的态度，因为它倾向于以意想不到的方式发展。因此答案为A。


Q6.D.主旨题。根据Zanny Minton Beddoes的陈述，讨论的主题是围绕AI技术的安全和监管问题，她问：“The amount of focus on safety and regulation is sort of very, very high. Tell me whether you think regulators have got it right or whether we’re not doing enough.”（“对安全和监管的关注非常高。告诉我，你是否认为监管机构做得对，或者我们做得不够。”）由此可见，Zanny Minton Beddoes提出讨论的主题是关注AI技术的安全性和监管。因此答案为D。

Q7. B.细节题。Satya Nadella提到国家在人工智能技术发展中发挥作用的原因，在文本中他说：“Nation states are absolutely going to have a say … on what is the regulation that controls any technology development, most importantly, what is ready for deployment or not.”（“各国当然完全有发言权……关于什么才是能管控任何科技发展的法令，最重要的，是什么技术已经可以部署或是不可以部署。”）这说明国家将对部署何种技术有影响作用。因此答案为B。

Q8.C.细节题。Sam Altman描述对AI部署的控制涉及到对风险等方面的微妙决策，在文本中他说：“It is the many little decisions along the way about ‘allow this, don’t allow this, how to predict, what the risks of the future are going to be, how to mitigate those, set this new value here’, things like that.” （“它在这个过程中会涉及到的许多小决策，关于‘允许这个，不允许那个，如何预测，将来的风险会是什么，如何缓解这些风险，在这里设定这个新的值’，类似这样的事情。”）这表明控制过程涉及到很多小的决策、风险评估和设定新值等。因此答案为C。

Q9. C.推理题。根据采访内容，可以看出关于AI未来的一个共同主题是：变化是不可避免且持续的。A选项，AI对社会的益处其实尚有争议，故不选。B选项过于绝对。D选项，关于AGI的未来确实充满未知，但文中也提到了对AI的监管，因此并非全然不可控。因此答案为C。

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