外刊逐句精读｜《金融时报》：ChatGPT火了，AI时代来了吗？｜CATTI一级
笔记：
外刊视频｜《金融时报》：ChatGPT大火，人工智能时代要来了？
三言两语杂货社 2023-02-20 09:00 发表于广东
第1&2段
“The age of AI is upon us,” Microsoft’s chief executive Satya Nadella declared last week.
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.
重点词汇：
▲ chief executive： 首席执行官：又称Chief Executive Office (CEO)；
▲ hard cash ：现金：指硬币和纸币，和支票、信用卡等虚拟形式的资金相对；
▲ computing power ：计算能力、算力：指设备通过对信息数据进行处理，实现目标结果输出的计算能力。
▲ ChatGPT ：全称为 Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer，是由美国科技公司OpenAI开发的聊天机器人。能够通过学习和理解人类的语言来进行对话，还能完成撰写邮件、视频脚本、文案、翻译、代码，写论文等任务。
Digital:adj.数字的，数字化的，手指的，数码的，使用计算机技术的，数字显示的
Digital media 数字媒体 digital age 数字时代
Electrify:v.使激动的；使触电的 adj.电气化的
难句解析：
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.
红色部分为句子的主语和谓语动词，剩余部分为句子的宾语（宾语从句）；
紫色部分为宾语从句的主干；蓝色+绿色部分为OpenAI的同位语；绿色部分为修饰research company的定语从句，核心结构为that has electrified A with B
Launch:n.(产品的）上市
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OpenAI .
第3&4段
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.
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.
段落大意：chatGPT向公众开放后，大量用户测试了它的文本生成功能。大型语言模型并不是新鲜事物，但从未像现在一样被广泛使用。
重点词汇：
▲ Experiment with/on sth. 做实验
▲Chatbot：聊天机器人
▲ sophisticated adj. 先进的，精密复杂的；
▲Plausible：adj.似乎有道理的，似乎可能的
▲ reams n. 大量的文字：非正式表达，
可以单独使用，也可以使用搭配a reams of sth.「大段的……」，
例句如下：She wrote reams in the exam.她在考试中写得很多。
Large language model:大型语言模型
Accessible:adj.可使用的
▲ finance minister 财政部长：统称。
英国的财政部长具体头衔为Chancellor of the Exchequer 「财政大臣」，其中 the Exchequer 指「英国财政部」；
▲ compose vt. 创作、撰写：常接讲稿、信件、诗歌等宾语，也可以指作（曲）。衍生出两个常用的名词composer「作曲家」和composition「（文学、音乐）作品」。
难句解析：
Such “large language models”, as they are called, are not new, but never before have they been made so widely accessible.
并列连词but连接了两个完整的句子（分别是红色部分和蓝色部分）；紫色部分的插入语补充说明“large language models”；蓝色部分中never before提前，表强调，句子部分倒装，还原后的语序为They have never before been made so widely accessible.
第5&6段
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.
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 in2022,”wrote Jeff Dean,one of Google’s most senior AI researchers.
段落大意：风投公司大力加码发展生成AI。介绍了生成式AI模型的原理和功能，这种模型目前已取得惊人进步，下一个阶段可能期待“多模态模型”的进展。
重点词汇：
Despite:prep.任凭，尽管 n.凌辱，伤害，鄙视
In despite of :不管，尽管，任凭 despite oneself :不由自主的，身不由己的
Despite of 尽管，不管
Tech market:
Downturn:n.（商业经济的）衰退 the downturn in sales /trade
Economic downturn
▲ venture capital firm 风险投资公司：向有潜力的start-up 「初创公司」提供资金，协助其壮大业务、获取更多投资或上市；
Frenziedly:adv.及其激动地，狂乱的
Start-up:n.初创公司
Exploit：v.充分利用，发挥
▲ generative AI 生成式AI：一种特定类型的AI，在大型数据集上进行训练，并使用机器学习算法生成与训练数据相似的新内容，如文本、图像和音乐；
Draw A from B:从B获取A
Code：n.代码 v.编程序，编码
Emergence：n.出现
Emerge：v.出现
▲ multi-modal model 多模态模型：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；
▲ may/might/can/could well 很可能。
Imagery:n.图像
Stunning:adj.绝妙的，令人震撼的
第7段
Tech evangelists argue that the widespread adoption of generative AI opens up a new era in technology, just as the emergence of personal computers, smart phones and social media gave birth to seemingly 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.
段落大意：技术传播者宣称生成式AI的广泛使用可以带来跨时代的革新，但这会巩固现有巨头的地位还是给新企业更多机会还不得而知。
重点词汇：
▲ tech evangelist 技术传播者：evangelist是一个基督教术语，指的是「传播布道者」，但文中的tech evangelist和宗教并无关系，指的是一个科技公司内部的职位「技术传播者」，也叫tech advocate。这个岗位负责思考如何将新技术应用在不同产业上，并且通过推广让别人感受到技术的价值；
Adoption:n.采用（想法，计划等）
Gave birth to:
▲ yet adv. 终归：yet的熟词僻义，例句如下：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；
▲ 一组对立概念：tech incumbent「科技界的在位者」和insurgent start-up「起义的初创公司」，文中做的一组形象比喻，前者指谷歌、微软等巨头，后者指尝试分一杯羹的初创企业。
Incumbent:n.在职者，现任者
In general ,incumbents have a 94percent chance of being reelected.
Stimulate:v.促进，刺激
Insurgent:adj.起义的
难句解析：
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.
红色部分为句子主语，is为系动词，剩余部分为表语；whether引导的表语从句的核心结构为whether it will do A or do B；including...和such as...为两个补充例子的插入语，分别解释tech incumbents和insurgent start-ups
第8段
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.
段落大意：生成式AI引发了一系列担忧，内容的准确性有待商榷
重点词汇：
▲ 生成式AI引发的一系列问题：theft of copyright 版权盗窃；the spread of disinformation 虚假信息的传播；
deepfakes 深度伪造，合成词，由deep learning+fake构成；the debasement of knowledge on the world wide web 万维网上的知识贬值。
Triggering：v.引发
Copyright:n.版权
Disinformation:n.虚假消息
Deepfake:深度伪造 =deep learning +fake
Debasement: n.降低
World wide web: = www 万维网
Statistically:adv.从统计学来说
Probable:adj.可能发生的
Hallucinate:v.产生幻觉，用幻觉影响
Hallucination:n.幻觉
Bullshit:n.胡说，瞎扯
Bullshiter：n.胡说八道的人
Princeton University:普林斯顿大学
第9&10段
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.
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.
段落大意：过渡关注生成式AI可能会不利于其他AI应用的发展，事实上其他AI技术已经给各行各业带来了切实帮助。哪怕AI时代真的到来，目前程度还不够成熟。
重点词汇：
▲ gold rush 淘金热；
▲ distract sb. from sth. 使某人从某事分心；
Machine learning:机器学习
▲ be fixated on sth. 专注于某事；
▲ AI的多项应用：
diagnose cancers 诊断癌症；
model protein structures 为蛋白质结构建模；
Model:v.建模
Protein structure:蛋白质结构
optimise electricity grids 优化电网；
Optimise:v.优化
Electricity grid:电网
design components for heart valves, aero engines or wind turbines 设计心脏瓣膜、航天发动机、风力发电涡轮的部件。
Compoment:组件
Heart valve:心脏瓣膜
Aero engine:航空发动机，飞机引擎
Wind turbine:风力涡轮发电机
难句解析：
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.
红色部分为句子主干，剩余部分为句子的状语，可以简化为but not in the way；蓝色+绿色部分为修饰the way的定语从句，省略了that；绿色部分为插入语，补充从句的主语（we and our digital assistants），也可以起强调作用
