OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, had some big changes in its leadership (领导层) in November. It’s not just drama (戏剧性场面) of one company—it made people worried about the development of the field as a whole.
On Nov 17, OpenAI said on its website that Sam Altman, one of its founders and CEO, would leave. However, many workers didn’t agree with this. More than 700 out of about 770 OpenAI workers signed a letter to ask the company to bring Altman back. In just five days, Altman was back as company CEO again.
OpenAI was started in 2015 by Altman and others as a non-profit (非营利性的) research organization. They didn’t want to be driven by a need to make money. Instead, they wanted to make AI tools that could help everyone. In 2019, OpenAI changed a bit. They made a part of the company start to make money for investors (投资人). But the non-profit part keeps control of the business, even going so far to fire (开除) its top boss.
The different opinions of the board (董事会) members toward AI development might be one reason for the drama. According to The New York Times, the people who fired Altman are more worried about AI and called for more rules to keep it in check. Altman, however, saw the further development of AI as more important.
The OpenAI drama “shows how fragile (脆弱的) the AI ecosystem (生态系统) is right now”, Johann Laux, an expert in the UK, told AP. The ecosystem is about all kinds of things related to AI, such as technologies and regulations (监管). They need to keep up with the fast development of AI.
Also, according to AP, many experts think it should be governments, not big tech companies, to decide on rules for AI. Enza Iannopollo from research company Forrester said to AP that Altman’s return stopped the board from trying to introduce more rules about AI’s ethical (伦理的) problems. The lesson is that companies alone can’t make AI safe for everyone, Iannopollo said.
1. OpenAI was set up in the first place to _______.| A．develop helpful AI tools | B．make big money |
| C．build an AI ecosystem | D．control the AI field |
| A．he called for more rules on AI | B．he paid less attention to the rules on AI |
| C．he was against the development of AI | D．he sided with most investors |
| A．The profit-driven part. | B．The investors. | C．The non-profit part. | D．The government. |
| A．incomplete | B．strong | C．fast-growing | D．standing still |
| A．OpenAI will stop running without Sam Altman. |
| B．Competition is common inside big companies. |
| C．AI safety depends on the joint efforts of many sides. |
| D．Altman’s return will lead OpenAI to an uncertain future. |
相似题推荐
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system called Ithaca to help fill in missing words in ancient writings. Ithaca is designed to help historians restore (复原) the writings and identify when and where they were written.
Many ancient populations used writings, also known as inscriptions, to record different parts of their lives. The inscriptions have been found on materials such as rock, ceramic and metal. They often contained valuable information about how ancient people lived and how they built their societies.
But oftentimes, the objects containing such inscriptions have been damaged over the centuries. This left major parts of the inscriptions missing and difficult to identify and understand. In addition, many of the inscribed objects were moved from areas where they were first created. This makes it difficult for scientists to discover when and where the writings were made.
Ithaca serves as a technological tool to help researchers repair missing inscriptions and judge the true origins (起源) of the records. The researchers, led by Alphabet’s AI company DeepMind, said it trained Ithaca on the largest collection of data containing Greek inscriptions. Feeding this data into the system is designed to help the tool use past writings to predict missing letters and words in damaged inscriptions.
“When historians work on their own, the success rate (率) for restoring damaged inscriptions is about 25 percent. But when humans teamed up with Ithaca, the success rate jumped to 72 percent,” said Assael, a research scientist with DeepMind.
The team is now working on other versions of Ithaca trained on other ancient languages. DeepMind has launched a free tool based on the system for use by researchers, educators, museum workers and the public.
1. Why did many ancient populations use writings?| A．To record their lives. | B．To explain their origins. |
| C．To build their societies. | D．To test different materials. |
| A．Where the inscribed objects were first created. |
| B．Where researchers discovered valuable information. |
| C．Why it is hard for scientists to work on ancient writings. |
| D．Why major parts of the inscriptions have been damaged. |
| A．By competing with human brains. | B．By putting special data into the system. |
| C．By learning from other technological tools. | D．By challenging the system to difficult tasks. |
| A．It took a lot of time to repair missing inscriptions. |
| B．Restoring damaged inscriptions cost much money. |
| C．Repair work was much more likely to be successful. |
| D．All damaged writings could be restored successfully. |
| A．Data Collected for Training a New AI-Based System |
| B．A Free Tool Developed by DeepMind for Public Use |
| C．Inscriptions Found to Solve the Century-Old Mystery |
| D．AI Used to Fill in Missing Words in Ancient Writings |
【推荐2】Welcome home! The Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft returned to Earth on Sept 17, carrying three Chinese astronauts — Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo. The three astronauts were found in good health. Actually, the return journey was so successful that Tang Hongbo was seen playing with a pen in the return capsule (太空舱).
However, there were dangerous and challenging parts that you might not know about the landing.
While the return capsule entered the atmosphere (大气层), the temperature of its outside could be higher than 2,000℃! “ ” Nie Haisheng joked as they experienced thus. Special material on the outside of the capsule kept the astronauts safe inside.
More dangerously, the astronauts experienced a blackout (黑障) period, which was caused by the heating. It means they lost touch with the earth for several minutes.
When the capsule was about 10 kilometers above the ground, it prepared to land. At the time, the capsule still traveled at 200 m/s. That was twice the speed of high-speed trains! It was too fast to directly land. Therefore, parachutes (降落伞) are used to soften the landing. Even so, if a parachute is too big, it might turn over, just like an umbrella on windy days. So the capsule first opened a small parachute before using its big main parachute — as big as 1,200 square material. They let the capsule slow down gradually (逐渐地).
Upon their dangerous but successful landing, all the Chinese people felt excited and proud. What excited people more was that those astronauts really did a lot there. They stayed in space, for as long as three months, setting a new record for the longest space stay for astronauts. During the long stay, they mainly worked on building China’s Tiangong space station. They performed a number of scientific experiments and tests. They even had video calls with President Xi Jinping and hundreds of researchers, teachers and students in Hong Kong.
1. When landing, a small parachute was first used to ________.| A．keep astronauts from falling off |
| B．stop the main parachute turning over |
| C．test the speed of the spacecraft |
| D．help the spacecraft land quickly |
| A．Seeing is believing. | B．Great minds think alike. |
| C．Love me love my dog. | D．Real gold fears no fire. |
①the astronauts were found in good health
②Tang was seen playing with a pen
③the astronauts made video calls with President Xi
④the astronauts performed many scientific tests
| A．①③ | B．②③ | C．①② | D．②④ |
a. the success of Shenzhou XII
b. challenging but successful landing
c. meeting high heat
d. experiencing a blackout period
e. slowing down high speed
f. achievements in space
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
Another advantage is that Mr Leachim is flexible. If the children need more time to do their lessons they can move switches. In this way they can repeat Mr Leachim's lesson over and over again. When the children do a good job, he tells them something interesting about their hobbies. At the end of the lesson the children switch Mr Leachim off.
1. The first paragraph of the passage tells us__________
| A．human beings are not as smart as robots |
| B．robots will take the place of man to rule the earth |
| C．we can only use robots to do some regular jobs |
| D．robots can help people in many different ways |
| A．To meet the needs of each student. |
| B．To talk to the students in different languages. |
| C．To keep everyone's interest in his lessons. |
| D．To introduce more hobbies to the children. |
| A．not strict | B．not hard | C．suitable | D．changeable |
| A．There are 250 robot teachers in the United States. |
| B．Mr Leachim is run and controlled by electricity. |
| C．Bobby works in a large office building in Washington, D.C. |
| D．The lessons taught by Mr Leachim are given on a TV set. |
【推荐1】Octopuses（章鱼）are kind of like aliens. They are amazing in many ways. They have three hearts. They can walk. They can swim, and they can drive themselves forward at high speed. They can change colour and copy what other animals do. They even know how to open screw-top jars（带螺旋盖的罐子）and how to use tools!
Octopuses are mollusks（软体动物）. But unlike many other mollusks, they don’t have a shell. This allows them to pass through tiny spaces. Although octopuses mainly eat small fish, they are able to attack and kill small sharks. They make the sharks unable to breathe by covering their gill（锡）openings.
One thing that makes octopuses seem like aliens is their blue blood. It is much better at transporting oxygen in cold and low-oxygen conditions(like the deep sea) than our red blood. Octopuses lose energy easily. This may help explain their outstanding intelligence: They can’t chase after their prey（猎物）for a long time. They must use clever tricks.
As a hunter, an octopus brings prey under control through the use of a powerful poison（毒）. The smaller the octopus, the stronger the poison. The ten-centimeter-long blue-ringed octopus is so poisonous that it can easily kill a grown man. Octopuses themselves can be delicious prey to many different animals in the vast（辽阔的）ocean, but they are clever enough to know how to keep themselves safe many of the times. With their colour changing skin, octopuses can easily “hide” themselves or flash alarming colours to frighten their enemies away. If that doesn’t work, the octopus will release a cloud of dark ink and quickly escape.
Perhaps the most amazing part of an octopus is its arms. They can turn in any direction. The arms are too complex to be controlled from a central brain. Instead, they work almost independently. An octopus gives instructions and believes that they will be carried out. This means that the animal doesn’t have a very good idea of where its arms are. They can’t work out the shape of something by feeling it like we can.
1. What can octopuses do?a. walk and swim b. drive forward at high speed
c. change colour and open the jars d. copy people’s action
| A．abc | B．abd | C．acd | D．bcd |
| A．Red. | B．Green. | C．Blue. | D．Black. |
| A．Because they want to hide themselves. |
| B．Because they want to make themselves beautiful. |
| C．Because they want to keep themselves safe. |
| D．Because they want to show their clever tricks. |
| A．Octopuses are mollusks with shells. |
| B．Octopuses can kill small sharks by covering their gill openings. |
| C．The bigger octopuses have stronger poison than the smaller ones. |
| D．Octopuses’ arms are easy to be controlled. |
【推荐2】Nowadays more and more people pay attention to finace(金融) and stocks(股票). To our surprise, these things also happened to some middle school students. Guangzhou, the largest city in South-Central China and the third largest in the country, has recently added new subjects to their school courses. Some of the topics these classes address include finace and stocks. The lectures take place twice a week and started this fall.
These classes are for primary middle and high school students in Guangzhou. The classes for the primary school students focus on money and its uses while the middle school students study banks and their uses. High school students are not left out either and study personal finace and how to deal with the finacial crisis(危机).
These classes come at a time when the stock market in China has been facing some problems. Critics have said that these classes will make the students want to invest in the stock market, which may not benefit them. Others have replied it will lead to a well-rounded education for the students of Guangzhou.
Finance isn’t just a basic subject but can also benefit you on a personal level. While students learn how to invest, they also start to learn how to appreciate money as well. It’s too early to say what the result of the classes will be. What is important is that the focus on the development of the students and not the development of the market.
1. The second paragraph mainly tells us ________.| A．All the students are added the same contents. | B．Different students are added different contents. |
| C．it is necessary to study banks and their uses. | D．middle school students like learning stocks. |
| A．赞成者 | B．关心者 | C．批评者 | D．开心者 |
| A．Finance is an important basic subject | B．Guangzhou is the third largest city in China. |
| C．Finance can make students learn more skills | D．New courses have brought much benefit to students. |
【推荐3】Why is clean water important to developing countries? A recent report shows that about 80 percent of diseases in developing countries are caused by poor water and low sanitation（卫生）conditions. In those countries, women and girls spend several hours collecting water, but often polluted, far away from their families. The polluted water more or less influences their health. In this case, there is an urgent（迫切的）need for people in developing countries to have access to（有机会或权利使用）clean water to improve their health.
Here is a short story about Hadjara Zakari, a 12-year-old girl in Niger. Having access to clean water changed her life. She learned about the importance of hand-washing when the school first received clean water three years ago. That evening, she told her father, “You shouldn’t eat with me unless you clean your hands.” Her father was very angry and shouted at her, “It’s not up to you to tell me what to do!” Stunned（目瞪口呆的）, Hadjara sat in silence. But she knew she was right. In protest, Hadjara refused to eat dinner that night. After her father questioned Hadjara’s head teacher, he understood the importance of hand-washing and his daughter’s intentions（目的）. The girl really wanted her family to live longer and healthier lives.
For people in developing countries, clean water can change many things, especially improve their health. So, from now on, let’s avoid wasting water and take action to save water, which is important to people all over the world.
1. According to the recent report, poor water and low sanitation conditions can cause ______.| A．traffic problems | B．forest fires | C．many illnesses |
| A．to get clean water | B．to exercise often | C．to refuse drugs |
| A．Hadjara laughed at her father’s foolishness. |
| B．Hadjara refused to eat dinner that night in order to lose weight. |
| C．Hadjara’s father understood his daughter’s love and care for him later. |
