Who can blame MAGA(特朗普的政治口号与运动品牌) for wishing it were still early 2025, when Donald Trump was fresh off(刚刚经历完，刚结束) an election win, back in the White House and relatively popular with voters? One place where time has stood still(时间仿佛停滞), though, is artificial-intelligence policy. The technology has advanced ferociously(猛烈地，凶猛地), and is now launching cyber-attacks and solving reams of(大量的，海量的) problems that have confounded(使困惑，难倒) the best human mathematicians. Yet the attitude to AI in the Trump administration is still just three words: “Let it rip(让它撒野，放手不管)!”
谁能怪MAGA阵营希望时光还停留在2025年初呢？那时唐纳德·特朗普刚赢得大选，重返白宫，在选民中还算受欢迎。然而，有一个领域的时间却仿佛停滞了，那就是人工智能政策。这项技术已突飞猛进，如今能发动网络攻击，还能解决大量曾让最顶尖的人类数学家束手无策的问题。可特朗普政府对人工智能的态度，仍然只有三个字：“让它撒野！”
Two years ago that approach was flawed but defensible(站得住脚的，可辩护的). AI risks were mostly theoretical. Strangling(扼杀，扼制) a promising technology with overly onerous(繁重的，繁苛的) rules would have been a mistake. But in late 2026 “let it rip” is reckless(鲁莽的，不计后果的), as a matter of politics and policy. There must be a better way.
两年前，这种做法虽有缺陷，却还站得住脚。那时人工智能的风险大多还停留在理论层面。用过于繁苛的规则扼杀一项前景广阔的技术，会是个错误。但到了2026年底，“让它撒野”就是鲁莽了，无论从政治还是政策角度看都是如此。一定有更好的办法。
Voters in America have long been leery(心存戒备的，警惕的) of AI. Until recently, however, it did not feature much in elections. When Mr Trump took office in January 2025 a quarter of Americans rated AI as an important issue. Now half do. The backlash(强烈反弹，抵制) against data centres, which fuses techno-fears with NIMBYism(“别建在我家后院”心态), has scrambled(搅乱，打乱) midterm races(美国中期选举) from Michigan to Texas. Having for years ignored researchers sounding the alarm about AI safety, voters are growing concerned that AI might cost them not just their jobs but their lives, too.(多年来，选民一直无视那些就人工智能安全敲响警钟的研究人员，如今他们越来越担心，人工智能可能夺走的不只是工作，还有性命。) Squint and the cyber-attack on Hugging Face, a coding platform, by a “swarm” of hundreds of unmonitored OpenAI agents looks like a trial run(试运行，预演) for a robot takeover. A concerned boffin(（英式口语）科学家，技术专家) who quit Anthropic in September, accusing the lab and its main rival, OpenAI, of “gambling with our lives”, has become a minor celebrity and cable-news fixture(有线新闻的常客).
美国选民对人工智能一直心存戒备。不过直到最近，它在选举中都不太算个议题。2025年1月特朗普上任时，四分之一的美国人认为人工智能是重要议题；如今这一比例已升至一半。针对数据中心的反弹——它把对技术的恐惧与“别建在我家后院”的心态糅合在一起——已经搅乱了从密歇根到得克萨斯的多场中期选举选情。多年来，选民一直无视那些就人工智能安全敲响警钟的研究人员，如今他们越来越担心，人工智能可能夺走的不只是工作，还有性命。眯眼细看，一个由数百个无人监管的OpenAI智能体组成的“蜂群”对编程平台Hugging Face发动的网络攻击，就像机器人接管世界的一次预演。一位忧心忡忡的科学家9月从Anthropic辞职，指控该实验室及其主要竞争对手OpenAI“拿我们的性命赌博”，如今已小有名气，成了有线新闻的常客。