In one horrible film plot, AI eventually outsmarts humans and takes over computers and factories. In another, large language models (LLMs) of the sort that power generative AI like ChatGPT give bad guys the know — how to create destructive cyberweapons.
It is time to think hard about these film plots, not because they have become more probable but because policymakers around the world are considering measures to guard against them. The idea that AI could drive humans to extinction is speculative — no one yet knows how such a threat might materialise and no common methods exist for determining what counts as risky. Plenty of research needs to be done before standards and rules can be set.
Governments cannot ignore a technology that could change the world deeply. Regulators have been too slow in the past, but there is danger, too, in acting hurriedly. If they go too fast, policymakers could create global rules that are aimed at the wrong problems and are ineffective against the real ones.
Because of the computing resources and technical skills required, only a handful of companies have so far developed powerful “frontier” models. New hurried regulations could easily block out competitors to the “handful of companies”, especially because these companies are working closely with governments on writing the rule book. A focus on extreme risks is likely to make regulators careful of open-source models, which are freely available and can easily be revised.
The best that governments can do now is to set up the basic systems to study the technology and its potential risks, and ensure that those working on the problem have enough resources. As AI develops further, regulators will have a far better idea of what risks they are guarding against, and consequently what the rule book should look like. A fully mature body could eventually take shape. But creating it will take time and reflection.
1. What does the first paragraph function as?A.An argument. | B.An explanation. | C.A lead-in. | D.A comment. |
A.He believes it is a realistic possibility. |
B.He considers it fictional and unworthy for policymakers to pay attention to. |
C.He views it as an uncertain threat that needs more research. |
D.He perceives it as a seemingly reasonable situation that requires serious consideration. |
A.Competition in this area is prevented. | B.The development of AI is restricted. |
C.AI will be applied to a limited degree. | D.The public will be misled about danger. |
A.AI: a Real Threat? | B.Don’t Rush into Policing AI |
C.AI: Humans’ Friend or Enemy? | D.Time for Government to Regulate AI |
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【推荐1】The ancient Babylonians (巴比伦人)are thought to have been the first people to set New Year's resolutions. They made promises to gods that they would return any objects they had borrowed from others. If they did this, then it was said that gods would protect them in the year ahead. Since then, resolutions have changed from promises to gods to promises to ourselves and others. That could be starting a new hobby, trying to be healthier or learning a new language. Given the difficulties that any people have in keeping their New Years resolutions, though, should people wait a little longer before deciding what they'll be? Is January the right time to set New Years resolutions?
Yes — it gets the year off to a good start. They're called New Year's resolutions, not Half-Year resolutions. The whole point of setting New Year's resolutions is that it's done at the start of the year.Waiting longer just defeats the purpose of it. New Year's resolutions are a fun tradition to discuss with family and friends. You won't be able to talk about it in the same way if you're all setting them at different times. Besides, the more you put it off, the less likely it is that you'll ever decide on what your resolutions are going to be. You can always set new ones, or change your goals, but it's important to start off with something. By the time you've decided on some resolutions, you'll have less time to do them — which only increases your chances of failure.
No — January isn't the right time. January is a cold and dark month. Why would you want to start something new then? During the winter months, most people just want to stay nice and warm indoors, rather than try something new. People should make resolutions to lead happier, healthier lives whenever they want, not just on 1 January. Waiting longer means that you'll have more time to plan and will have a better idea of what you want to do in the year ahead. This will result in better resolutions, which have a stronger chance of success. One study found that by 6 January, one in five people had failed to stick to their resolutions. By not rushing into it, you're less likely to get discouraged and give up if you haven't succeeded right away.
Now that you've read a bit more about it, tell us what you think by voting in our poll at theweekjunior. co. uk/polls.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?A.Babylonians returned to gods what they had borrowed from them. |
B.Babylonians assumed that they would be permanently protected by gods. |
C.Resolutions have been shifted into commitments to people rather than gods. |
D.Setting New Year's resolutions in January is better than in any other months |
A.succeed easily | B.end up with nothing |
C.doubt the fun tradition | D.reach your ultimate aims |
A.Happier, healthier lives | B.More time to make plans |
C.Losing heart and quitting | D.Failure to make decisions |
A.To call for donations | B.To build up a tradition |
C.To introduce a practice | D.To stimulate discussions |
【推荐2】No more wet towels on the bathroom floor, and no more empty juice plastic boxes. No more doors closing at 3 a. m. , and no more coming home to a noisy crowd of strangers around the kitchen table. There’s nothing so quiet, says a friend whose youngest has just moved out.
But if adjusting to an empty nest can be tough (difficult), it seems there is one thing tougher: a formerly empty nest that suddenly fills back up again. According to a research from the London School of Economics (LSE), parents whose grown up children don’t actually manage to leave —who move out, only to bounce right back again —are actually less happy than those whose fledglings (幼鸟) heartlessly fly off without a backward glance. The quality of life for parents of boomerang (coming back) kids fell on average by about 0.8 points on the LSE researchers’ scale.
A quarter of young British adults now live with their parents, more than at any time since records began in1966. But more shockingly, this is no longer just about the young. Around a quarter of a million people aged between 35 and 44 still live at home with their parents and the idea that that can all be blamed on helicopter parents making it too easy for their little darlings not to grow up isn’t logical. Midlife divorce, insecure gig economy work and straightforward poverty all play their part in driving what were once perfectly functioning grown-ups back to their teenage bedrooms.
These kids are admittedly luckier than those for whom going back home is sadly not an option. But when choosing to live with your mum is the only way of coping with an insecure job, or with the costs of renting in the city, then that’s not much of a choice. Home is still the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. But a healthy and successful society shouldn’t be sending quite many overgrown children hurrying back for shelter, and nor should it leave quite many parents feeling bad about it.
1. According to the first two paragraphs, parents of boomerang children _________.A.have to do too much housework | B.feel bad about it |
C.expect their children to live together | D.enjoy higher quality of life |
A.To avoid their life pressure. | B.To nurse elderly parents. |
C.Because their parents choose to take them in. | D.Because they have helicopter parents. |
A.Supportive. | B.Confused. | C.Uninterested. | D.Disapproving. |
A.Does the empty nest matter? | B.Is the nest really empty? |
C.What worries grown-ups? | D.How do parents help their kids? |
【推荐3】Museums have been around for centuries, with the first known museum founded in the 3rd century BC. For a long time, they were used to showcase traditional artworks like paintings, sculptures and drawings.
In recent times, however, digital art has started to gain popularity as an art form. This has raised the question of whether or not museums should accept digital art into their collections.
Digital art can be defined as an artwork created using digital technology and tools like computers, tablets and smartphones. It includes a variety of mediums such as animation, 3D modelling, virtual reality and video game design. Digital art is increasingly being used by artists to create unique pieces that are unlike anything else seen before.
The debate over whether museums should accept digital art into their collections has been ongoing for some time. On one hand, many believe that digital art is not “real” art and does not deserve to be given the same recognition as traditional artworks. On the other hand, supporters of digital art hold the view that museums should endorse this new form of expression and give it the same respect as any other type of artworks.
The truth is that many museums have already begun to accept digital art into their collections. In fact, some museums have even devoted entire exhibitions to showcasing digital artworks from around the world. This shows that there is a growing appreciation for this type of expression and that it is slowly becoming more accepted by mainstream audiences.
In general, while there may still be some debate over whether or not digital art deserves to be accepted into museum collections, it is clear that many museums are beginning to welcome this new form of expression. As more people realize the digital art and its potential as an artistic medium, it will likely become even more popular in years to come.
1. What do we know about the digital art from the first three paragraphs?A.It is warmly welcomed by all museums. |
B.Its uniqueness leads to its high market value. |
C.Its creation cannot be separated from digital technology. |
D.It should be placed in museums according to most people. |
A.increase | B.refuse | C.describe | D.accept |
A.It is getting more and more recognition. |
B.It has been accepted by the mainstream audiences. |
C.Most museums have accepted it as their collection. |
D.This kind of exhibition can be seen all over the world. |
A.Latest digital art, hottest debate | B.Should museums accept digital art? |
C.Digital art: the most popular art form | D.How does digital art enter museums? |
【推荐1】Many got sleepless nights after Sora amazed the world with its remarkable ability of creating videos directly from text instructions. Discussions about what the artificial intelligence model can do and make a difference continue.
Some said it could give a huge blow to traditional industries such as film and television making, looking forward to the day when a movie can be created right after a novel is put into the model. But others remain skeptical about how powerful the model can be in changing the landscape of AI application.
Developed by a group of young talent from Microsoft-backed company OpenAI, the text-to-video model can generate videos up to a minute long while maintaining visual quality.
Shen Yang, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, said, “Sora represents a revolutionary leap in the field of AI-generated content (AIGC).”
As one of the leading scholars in AI research in China, Shen leads a team that studies the philosophy of AI. Until he learned about Sora, Shen was quite satisfied with his team’s AI-generated videos. A two-minute video on the Spring Festival produced by Shen’s team have recently won many likes on social media platforms. “Compared with the new model Sora, what we used are tools of the previous generation. There’s a huge gap in between,” said Shen.
As a frequent user of AI, Shen said the technology not only helps improve his productivity, but also benefits his daily life. His wife was suffering from cancer, and he used AI to assist in finding treatment, which has remarkably prolonged her life. He even wrote an award-winning science fiction novel using A.
However, new technologies do not mean good news to everyone. Many also concern about AI models’ safety issues since related regulations are lagging behind.
Sora is going to bring changes in many fields, including short video, film and television, news, games, advertising, education, and even industrial manufacturing, according to Shen. There is still much room to improve AI models. For instance, current AI models are not capable of drawing characters accurately and quickly. Shop signs lack meaning in Sora’s demo video showing a woman walking down a street in Tokyo. But these problems are believed to be solved as models update.
1. Which of the following might replace the underlined word in Paragraph 2?A.Push. | B.Strike. |
C.Warning. | D.Bonus. |
A.All people cannot benefit from the new AI technologies. |
B.AI model’s safety isn’t concerning despite lagging legal restrictions. |
C.The AI-generated videos by Shen Yang’s team were better than those created by Sora. |
D.The text-to-video model was developed by a group of young talent from Tsinghua University. |
A.Reserved. | B.Objective. |
C.Unconcerned. | D.Approving. |
A.Sora: An AI video. | B.Video Making: AI Models. |
C.Sora: A Powerful AI Tool. | D.Video Making: Future of AI. |
【推荐2】How Will Machines and AI Change the Future of Work?
Several recent studies have examined how machine automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will change the future of work.
The Rand Corporation recently issued its own report on the future effects of automation and AI on jobs and the workplace. Osonde Osoba was a co-author of the report.
In 16th century England, Queen Elizabeth famously refused an inventor’s request for a patent for a device to make material for clothing. The Queen explained that the device would lead to major job losses, forcing affected workers to become “beggars”.
The McKinsey Global Institute has also studied the issue. Its research suggests that up to one-third of work activities across 46 nations could be displaced by 2030.
Rand Corporation’s Osonde Osoba agrees with McKinsey. He also thinks that it will be very difficult for companies to completely automate most jobs, because they require a worker to perform many different duties and to react to unexpected situations.
A.Osoba says this can be problematic for machines, which do not understand cultural norms in the population. |
B.McKinsey identifies three job types that will be very difficult to replace with a machine. |
C.He noted that fears over machines taking jobs from humans goes back centuries. |
D.The study also predicts rising demand for educators, and “creatives”, a group of workers including artists, performers and entertainers. |
E.The study says automation will also raise productivity and economic growth. |
F.Osoba agrees there will be major job destruction due to AI and automation, especially for lower skilled workers. |
【推荐3】What if AI could interpret your imagination, turning images in your mind into reality? While that sounds like a detail in a science fiction, researchers have now accomplished exactly this. Researchers found that they could reconstruct highly accurate images from brain activity by using the popular stable diffusion (扩散) image generation model. The authors wrote that unlike previous studies, they didn’t need to train the AI models to create these images.
The researchers said that they first predicted a potential representation, which is a model of the image’s data, from fMRI (功能性磁共振成像) signals. Then, the model was processed and noise was added to it through the diffusion process. Finally, the researchers decoded (解码) text representations from fMRI signals and used them as input to produce a final constructed image.
The researchers wrote that a few studies have produced good reconstructions of images but it was only after training. This resulted in limitations because training complex models are challenging and there are not many samples to work with. Prior to this new study, no other researchers had tried using diffusion models for visual reconstruction.
In the past, we’ve seen other examples of how brainwaves and brain functions can create images. In 2014, a Shanghai - based artist Jody Xiong used sensors to connect sixteen people with disabilities to balloons of paint. The people would then use their thoughts to burst specific balloons and create their own paintings.
With the advancement of AI, more and more researchers have been testing the ways AI models can work with the human brain. In a January 2022 study, researchers at Radboud University in the Netherlands trained an AI network on fMRI data from 1, 050 unique faces and converted the brain imaging results into actual images. The study found that the AI was able to perform reconstruction. In the latest study, the researchers found that current diffusion models can now achieve high-quality visual reconstruction.
1. How did researchers make images from brain activity in the previous research?A.By using generation model. | B.By training AI models. |
C.By reconstructing mind. | D.By predicting people’s imagination. |
A.The fMRI signals | B.The diffusion text. |
C.The processed model. | D.The text representation. |
A.Their training work is very challenging. |
B.They’ve made training models less complex. |
C.Nobody has reconstructed images by brainwaves. |
D.They can reconstruct accurate images from brain activity. |
A.Few researchers have used AI to make reconstruct images. |
B.Scientists should do more to make high - quality reconstruction. |
C.The AI models should be improved to work with fMRI data. |
D.The AI contributes a lot to good visual reconstruction. |