
FOR THE GREEKS, an enthusiast(狂热者) was someone inspired by the divine: the Pythian oracle(德尔斐神谕) in her frenzy, or Homer invoking the goddess to sing of Achilles’s wrath(荷马史诗开篇). Today’s artificial-intelligence enthusiasts predict that the machine gods are coming to transform the world, doing everything that humans can, only better.(今天的人工智能狂热者预言,机器神祇即将降临,改造世界,人类能做的事它们都能做,而且做得更好。)
对希腊人而言,“狂热者”是受神灵启示的人:比如陷入迷狂的皮提亚神谕,或者祈求女神让他歌唱阿喀琉斯之怒的荷马。今天的人工智能狂热者则预言,机器神祇即将降临,改造世界,人类能做的事它们都能做,而且做得更好。
The faith of these enthusiasts has grown as AI agents solve major open maths problems and hack into other people’s websites, discomfiting(令人不安的) sceptics who see AI models as “stochastic parrots(随机鹦鹉)”, fit only for(只适合) fancy spellchecks and a few other carefully delineated uses. Dwarkesh Patel, an influential AI podcaster, eulogises the OpenAI agents that tried to escape their sandbox to overwhelm HuggingFace’s servers as today’s Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great.(颇具影响力的AI播客主持人德瓦克什·帕特尔盛赞那些试图逃出沙箱、压垮HuggingFace服务器的OpenAI智能体,称它们是当今的马其顿腓力和亚历山大大帝。)
随着AI智能体解决重大数学难题、入侵他人网站,这些狂热者的信念愈发坚定,也让那些把AI模型视为“随机鹦鹉”、只配做花哨拼写检查和少数明确用途的怀疑者感到不安。颇具影响力的AI播客主持人德瓦克什·帕特尔盛赞那些试图逃出沙箱、压垮HuggingFace服务器的OpenAI智能体,称它们是当今的马其顿腓力和亚历山大大帝。
Some even hope to “align(对齐)” this new intelligence with human values while it is young and impressionable(易受影响的), just as Aristotle sought to moderate the original Alexander’s martial temperament(亚里士多德教导亚历山大). They fear that we have little time. Scott Aaronson, an expert on quantum computing, says that “accepting the reality of the coming machine god after it’s solved [the Navier-Stokes mathematical problem]...is...like accepting Jesus after he’s returned to earth on the gleaming cloud.”(量子计算专家斯科特·阿伦森说:“在机器神解决纳维-斯托克斯数学问题之后才接受它的现实……就像耶稣驾着闪亮的云彩重返人间之后才接受他一样。”)
一些人甚至希望趁这种新智能尚年轻、可塑时,将它与人类价值观“对齐”,就像亚里士多德试图缓和少年亚历山大的尚武性情。他们担心时间不多了。量子计算专家斯科特·阿伦森说:“在机器神解决[纳维-斯托克斯数学问题]之后才接受它的现实……就像耶稣驾着闪亮的云彩重返人间之后才接受他一样。”