三言两语杂货社-外刊逐句精读｜《金融时报》：ChatGPT火了，AI时代来了吗？
此笔记基于洛云皈的笔记修改
> 全文逐句翻译
“The age of AI is upon us,” Microsoft’s chief executive Satya Nadella declared last week.
- upon prep. 即将来临
Winter is almost upon us.冬天即将来临。
- chief executive 首席执行官
= CEO （Chief Executive Office）
- executive 执行的；行政的
- execute 执行；处决
- execution
- executable file = exe
The giant software company is certainly backing its grand talk with hard cash and computing power. Last month, Microsoft announced it was investing a further $10bn in OpenAI, the San Francisco-based research company that has electrified the digital world with the launch of its ChatGPT language-generation model.
- grand talk 豪言壮语
- grand 伟大的，壮丽的，宏大的
- back vt.帮助、支持
- hard cash 现金（硬币和纸币）
- computing power 计算能力、算力
- -based adj. 总部位于......的
a London-based law firm 总部设在伦敦的一家律所
- electrify vt. 使通电；使兴奋
- launch n.（产品的）上市
- ChatGPT= Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer
难句解析：
1.Last month, Microsoft announced it was investing a further $10bn in OpenAI, the San Francisco-based research company that has electrified the digital world with the launch of its ChatGPT language-generation model.
• 灰色部分为时间状语。
• 红色部分为句子主干，其后宾语从句省略了连词that。
• 蓝色部分为宾语从句，浅蓝色部分为OpenAI的同位语。
• 绿色部分为research company的定语从句，浅绿色部分为从句伴随状语。
段落大意：ChatGPT为科技界带来了惊喜，微软重金扶持其开发公司OpenAl。
Within a week of opening up ChatGPT to the public, 1mn users were experimenting with the super-sophisticated chatbot to write reams of highly plausible text at astonishing speed.
- experiment with/ on sth. 做试验
- sophisticated adj. 先进的、精密复杂的；老练的
- reams n. [非正式]大量的文字
a reams of sth. 大段的…
She wrote reams in the exam.她在考试中写得很多。
Such “large language models”, as they are called, are not new, but never before have they been made so widely accessible. Even the British finance minister Jeremy Hunt (or his speechwriter) employed ChatGPT to compose the introduction to his recent speech on innovation
• large language model（LLM）大型语言模型
• accessible adj. 可使用的
• finance minister 财政部长（统称）
Chancellor of the Exchequer 财政大臣
the Exchequer 英国财政部
• speechwriter n. 演讲稿写人
• compose vt. 创作、撰写、作曲
composer n. 作曲家
composition n. （文学、音乐）作品；创作
难句解析：
2.Such “large language models”, as they are called, are not new, but never before have they been made so widely accessible.
• 黄色部分句子使用了部分倒装，表强调，语序还原如下：
= They have never before been made so widely accessible.
Despite the broader tech market downturn, venture capital firms have been frenziedly pouring billions of dollars into start-ups to exploit the commercial opportunities of these “generative” AI models.
- venture capital（VC）风险投资
- venture 冒险，风险项目 → adventure
- frenziedly adv. 疯狂地、狂乱地
- frenzied /'frenzid/ adj. 疯狂的、狂乱的
- frenzy 狂热/疯狂，发疯
- start-up n. 初创公司
- exploit [ɪkˈsplɔɪt]vt. 充分利用、发挥
Trained on huge amounts of content drawn from the internet, these models can also be used to generate computer code, images, audio and video. The next big thing in AI this year may well be the emergence of multi-modal models that mix several of these elements. “The quality and capabilities of generative models for imagery, video, and audio has shown truly stunning and extraordinary advances in 2022,” wrote Jeff Dean, one of Google’s most senior AI researchers.
- draw A from B 从B获取A
- code n. 代码 vt. 编程序、编码
- may/ might/ can/ could well 很可能
- emergence n. 出现
- emerge v. 出现
- multi-modal model 多模态模型
- modal /maudl/ adj. 模态的
模态是指一些表达或感知事物的方式，每一种信息的来源或者形式，都可以称为一种模态。当一个研究问题或数据集包含多个这样的模态时，它就被描述为多模态，比如同时包含文本、语音和图形信息的数据。
- • imagery n. 图像
- • stunning adj. 绝妙的、令人震惊的
- stun 震惊，使震惊
Tech evangelists argue that the widespread adoption of generative AI opens up a new era in technology, just as the emergence of personal computers, smartphones and social media gave birth to seemingly(似乎；看似) limitless business opportunities in earlier times. Generative AI may yet transform the creative industries, video games production and enterprise software, for example. One of the open questions surrounding its use is whether it will strengthen the power of the tech incumbents, including Microsoft and Google, or stimulate fresh competition from insurgent start-ups, such as Cohere, Stability AI and You.com.
- • evangelist n. 巡回布道者、传播者
- tech evangelists = tech advocate
- • adoption n. 采用 (想法、计划等)
- • give birth to sth. 使产生
- • yet adv. 终归、迟早（熟词僻义）
- I know she's alive and I'll find her yet.
- 我知道她还活着，我迟早会找到她。
- • open question 未有定论的问题
- • incumbent n. 在职者、现任者
- In general, incumbents have a 94 percent chance of being reelected.
- 通常现任官员有 94% 的几率会再次当选。
- • stimulate vt. 促进、刺激
- • insurgent adj. 起义的
难句解析：
3.Tech evangelists argue that the widespread (adoption) of generative AI opens up a new era in technology, just as the (emergence) of personal computers, smartphones and social media gave birth to seemingly limitless business opportunities in earlier times.
- • 红色部分为句子主干。
- • 蓝色部分为宾语从句。
- • 绿色部分为just as引导的状语从句。
4.One of the (open questions) surrounding its use is whether it will strengthen the power of the tech incumbents, including Microsoft and Google, or stimulate fresh competition from insurgent start-ups, such as Cohere, Stability AI and You.com.
- • 红色部分为句子主干。
- • 蓝色部分为whether引导的表语从句，核心结构为whether it will do A or do B 。
- • 灰色部分为插入语，用including...和such as...补充例子，分别解释tech incumbents和insurgent start-ups。
But the widespread adoption of generative AI is also triggering concerns about the theft of copyright, the spread of disinformation and deepfakes and the debasement of knowledge on the world wide web. Generative AI systems are trained to produce the most statistically probable answer, not the most accurate, and can “hallucinate” facts. ChatGPT has been described as “the greatest bullshitter ever” by Arvind Narayanan, a computer science professor at Princeton University.
- • deepfake n. 深度伪造
= deep learning + fake
- • debasement n. 降低（价值）
- • statistically adv. 从统计学来说
- • probable adj. 可能发生的
- • hallucinate vi. 产生幻觉 vt. 用幻觉影响
- hallucination n. 幻觉
- • bullshit n. 胡说、瞎扯
- bullshitter n. 胡说八道的人
- • Princeton University 普林斯顿大学
The digital gold rush around generative AI may also be distracting us from more profound and productive uses of other machine learning models, according to one tech executive. While everyone is fixated on the industry’s “shiny new toy”, researchers have been using machine learning systems to diagnose cancers, model protein structures, optimise electricity grids and design components for heart valves, aero engines or wind turbines.
- • gold rush 淘金热
- • distract sb. from (doing) sth. 使（做某事）分心
- • be fixated on sth. 专注于某事
- • model vt. 建模
- • electricity grid 电网
- grid 网格，网栅
- • component n.组件
- • heart valve 心脏瓣膜
- valve [vælv] 阀门
- • aero engine 航空发动机、飞机引擎
The age of AI may well be upon us, but not quite in the way we — and our digital assistants — are currently all chatting about.
解析：
6.The age of AI may well be upon us, but not quite in the way (that) we — and our digital assistants — are currently all chatting about.
AI的时代即将来临，但不是以我们和电子助手正在讨论的这种形式。
• 红色部分为句子主干。
• 蓝色部分为方式状语，内嵌浅蓝色定语从句，补充说明the way。
• 灰色部分为插入语，起补充we的作用。
段落大意：哪怕AI时代真的来了，目前的程度还不够成熟。
