4 . History suggests that societies generally overestimate the short-term implications of new technologies while underestimating longer-term ones. Current experience with artificial intelligence — the technology enabled by machine-learning — suggests we are getting it ______ this time. There’s too much talk about the potential “______ risk” to humanity posed by AI, and too little about our experience of it so far and corporate plans for exploiting the technology.

Although AI has been hiding in plain sight for a decade, it took most people by surprise. The appearance of ChatGPT last November signaled that the world had discovered a powerful new technology. Not for nothing is this new “generative AI” called “______”: it provides the base on which the next wave of digital innovation will be built.

It is also transformational in innumerable ways: it weakens centuries-old conceptions of intellectual property, ______, and it has the potential radically to increase productivity, reshape industries, change the nature of some kinds of work and so on. On top of that, though, it also raises troubling questions about the ______ of humans and their capabilities.

The continuing dispute between the Hollywood studios and screenwriters’ and actors’ unions perfectly illustrates the ______ of the challenges posed by AI. Both groups are up in arms about the way online streaming has reduced their earnings. But the writers also fear their role will be ______ simply to rewriting AI-generated scripts; and actors are concerned that detailed digital scanning ______ by new movie contracts will allow studios to create persuasive deepfakes of them that studios will be able to own and use “for the rest of eternity (永久), in any project they want, with no permission and no compensation”.

So the key question for democracies is: how can we ensure AI is used for human flourishing ______ corporate gain? On this question, the news from ______ is not good. A recent study by two renowned economists, Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, of 1,000 years of technological progress shows that although some benefits have usually trickled (流) down to the ______, the rewards have — with one exception — invariably gone to those who own and control the technology.

The “______” was a period in which democracies fostered countervailing powers (抵消力量) — civil-society organisations, free media, activists, trade unions and other progressive, technically informed institutions that supplied a steady flow of ideas about how technology could be repurposed for ______ rather than exclusively for private profit. This is the lesson from history that societies confronted by the AI challenge need to relearn.

There are some signs that governments may finally have realized the problem. The EU, for example, has an ambitious and far-reaching AI Act that is making its way through the union’s processes. In the US, the Biden administration recently published a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights”, which looks impressive but is ______ just a list of aspirations that some of the big tech companies claim to share.

It’s a start — provided governments don’t forget that leaving the implementation of powerful new technologies solely to corporations is always a(n) ______ idea.

If your parents take out a loan, remind them to make the payments on time. Otherwise it will become a(n)     1     record in their personal credit reports, which are playing a(n)     2     big role in people’s daily lives. A story carried by Chongqing Morning Post in June,     3     this trend.

According to the report, a Chongqing student borrowed money from the bank to     4     his university studies. After he graduated in 2005, he went to work in Shenzhen. Later, he wanted to buy a house using loans. But several banks turned down his loan     5    . The reason was that he had not paid back 1,500 yuan he borrowed from a bank when he was at university,

A personal credit rating is becoming a(n)     6     “pass” in everyday life, as China establishes a nationwide credit database. Personal credit systems go back 150 years. In developed countries, enterprises and banks use them to decide whether or not to loan money or do other business with a person.

A credit report     7     the credit worthiness of an individual, a company, or even a country. It is a(n)     8     made by credit bureaus of a borrower’s overall credit history and his or her ability to repay debt. A poor credit rating means a high risk of defaulting on a loan, and thus leads to the     9     of a loan by the lender.

Today in China, credit history in banks is the major     10     of a credit report. But in the future, reports will include information about the payment of telephone bills, water use fees, electricity and natural gas bills, and taxes, according to officials of the People’s Bank of China, the central bank.

Birth Rates and Home Values: A Closer Look

Don’t people in expensive places always have fewer children? Doesn’t     1     research show a positive relationship between home value gains and higher fertility?

In a recent research brief, Zillow has brought attention to the surprising continued decline of Americans’ birth rates, despite the strong economic     2     since 2012. The post triggered a number of follow-up questions on social media and elsewhere. Zillow Research also published a new     3     at Census and Zillow data that the decisions to move and to have kids are twisted for many people.

Don’t people in expensive places always have fewer children? Yes, but what the first research brief     4     is not the cross-sectional correlation of birth rates and home values, but the percentage changes in each variable after the economy declines. Today, cities like New York are known as    5    for highly-educated young people who may be more likely to delay starting families.

The new finding is that counties that already had low birth rates for young adults in 2010 saw their birth rates fall further, and the degree to which they did was correlated with the degree to which their home values rose. One way to explain both these facts is that some people are     6     toward very expensive housing markets requiring high-pay careers with belated or reduced childbearing, while others prefer housing markets where it is more     7     to have children and buy a house big enough for the whole family. In that background, people moving to more affordable areas will have more children and those in less affordable areas will have fewer. What about prior research that shows a positive correlation between growth in home values and fertility? While the     8     cross-sectional relationship was well-known, previous research actually showed a positive relationship between changes in home prices and birth rates. Arecent article on the subject by economists Lisa J. Dettling and Melissa S. Kearney found that a $10,000 home value increase was     9     with a 0.8 percent increase in fertility. This originated from their subtler findings that non-homeowners have fewer babies in     10     to higher prices, while existing homeowners raise their birth rates.

Their estimates found a turning point: when homeownership is below about 32.4 percent, rising home values do, in fact, reduce birth rates. In other words, falling births reacting to rise home values would now be consistent with Dettling and Kearney’s findings.

Communicating science

One of the major problems for scientists lies in communicating the value of research to non-specialists that matter:policymakers and the general public. In recent years, scientific organisations have come a long way in developing ways to make science more accessible to non-specialist groups.

The development of blogs has helped substantially in bringing science closer to the public. According to Wikipedia, the ScienceBlogs network is now ranked 37th among the most authoritative blogs worldwide, with two of its sections having won weblog awards. Released from editorial restrictions, science bloggers generally focus on areas of science that they are both passionate and knowledgeable about. They often write about science in an accessible, lively manner, and it is this that perhaps most attracts members of the public. Ed Yong’s Not Exactly Rocket Science, for instance, is filled with the writer’s enthusiasm and down-to-earth attitude towards the subject. His chatty, youthful style appeals to a wide range of readers.

Television has also boosted the image of science. Early pioneers such as Jacques Cousteau, whose beautifully filmed documentaries opened up the oceans to millions, quickly realised the potential of TV to make science come alive for viewers. Other science disciplines have eagerly followed suit. Entertaining presenters carry out daring experiments or explore amazing scientific phenomena in order to attract attention. Celebrities such as Brian Cox, once famous for playing music in D:Ream, have also been instrumental in bringing science into popular culture. Now working in the field of physics, Brian is presenter of the BBC TV series Wonders of the Solar System. His background means that his face is not only well known to younger viewers but is also considered cool. Other organisations have been using the power of visual media through the internet. For example, SciVee offers scientists video services to create online presentations of their research.

Nevertheless, despite this progress, communication remains one of science’s biggest obstacle. Perhaps it is time that universities addressed this problem, and thought about adding communications training to the curriculum.

10 . We asked four people who graduated from the Williams Business and Accountancy School what corporate responsibility means to them.

I know that some corporations claim to be bringing huge benefits to local people, and maybe some are. However, in other cases, they’re paying low wages or undercutting small, family-run firms who can’t compete. It may not be a pretty image, but that’s the nature of capitalism. I’d like to hope I won’t end up as part of this process, but I suspect it’s inevitable. Essentially, your biggest responsibility is ultimately to return value to your stakeholders. Positive employee relations are desirable, but not actually a legal requirement in many countries.

Thanks to my sister, I’ve recently had a shift in thinking. As far as corporate responsibility is concerned, I no longer doubt it. Christina recently transferred to an overseas branch. She was surprised and delighted to discover the branch was running local programmes to improve basic literacy skills amongst employees as well as to conserve the environment. She’s now currently retraining as a teacher and moving over to that side of things. Now that I’ve seen this side of corporate responsibility, I’ve been persuaded to give it a go myself in later life, although I’ll stick to Plan A and pursue a solid career in finance for a few years first.

For me, what it comes down to is sustainability. Whatever your product, it shouldn’t have a harmful effect on the planet. Many companies make a big noise about how much cash they give away to charity, but they should make changes in the way they make their profits in the first place. Quite aside from the ethical arguments, there’s also a sound commercial reason here. These days the consumer has access to far more information than ever before thanks to the internet, so if something bad goes viral, it’ll destroy a reputation forever. Companies are well aware of that. For that reason, more are starting to face up to their responsibility—or so they claim.

In the USA, corporations often support community development projects by donating books or equipment to schools. However, this apparent altruism (利他主义) is not all it claims to be. There’s a large grey area between corporate giving and company branding. Nowadays every corporate website includes a summary of so-called ‘core values’; vague descriptions of how they’re ‘giving back’ to society. I can’t help thinking they’re unclear for a reason and that it’s all just for good PR. I’m particularly annoyed by the claims of fast-food companies. They pretend to be concerned with obesity (肥胖) levels while promoting special offers on larger portions. The hidden agenda is clearly to boost profit. It’s an insult to consumer intelligence.