2016年8月,谷歌中国搬离了十年旧址。在搬到新址一年后,谷歌似乎有了新动作,越来越多的消息显示谷歌将在北京搭建一个人工智能团队。
Google building artificial intelligence team in Beijing
谷歌拟在北京组建人工智能研究团队
Despite beingall butlocked out of China, Google isramping up*efforts totap*a vital technologyresourcein the country:engineering talent.
尽管谷歌(Google)几乎完全被屏蔽在中国之外,但该公司正加倍努力地利用中国国内的一种重要技术资源:工程人才。
*ramp sth up
1)to increase the speed, power, or cost of something 加快(速度);增加(威力);提高(费用)
2)If a business ramps up its activity, it increases it. (公司)扩大,增加,增多(业务等)
To stay competitive, they'll have toramp upproduct development as well as cut prices.
为保持竞争力,他们除了降价以外,还将不得不加大产品开发的力度。
*tap:to get or make use of something 开发;开辟;着手利用
For more than a century, Eastern cities have expanded their water supplies bytappingever more remote sources.
一个多世纪以来,东部的城市通过开发更偏远地区的水源,扩大了水的供应。
The UStech giantis advertising forartificial-intelligenceexperts in Beijing, where it has expanded rapidly in the past few years. Google hinted in May, at an AI summit near Shanghai, that it was looking toset upits first China-based AI research team.
这家美国科技巨头正在北京登广告招聘人工智能(AI)专家。过去几年里,谷歌在北京的业务已迅速扩大。谷歌在今年5月份于上海附近召开的AI高峰会议上暗示,它正寻求成立首个设在中国的AI研究团队。
The move pits Google in the race for talent against domestic groupBaidu, which is also headquartered in Beijing's northwestern tech village and has beenstepping up its own effortsto hire AI researchers in Beijing and Silicon Valley.
此举使谷歌与国内科技集团百度(Baidu)开展一场人才争夺战。百度一直竭力在北京和硅谷(Silicon Valley)招募AI研究人员。
“Google's recruiting creates additional pressures for [its competitors],” said Mark Natkin of Beijing-based tech research firm Marbridge Consulting. “There's still great benefits for a Chinese engineer going to work for a large US firm, in the same way there's [more]cachet* in going to asecond-tierUK university than atopChinese one,” he added.
“Google的招聘(对其竞争对手)造成了更大的压力,”北京科技研究公司迈博瑞咨询(Marbridge Consulting)的马克•纳特金(Mark Natkin)说。“中国工程师去美国一家大公司工作还是有很大好处,就像上英国二流大学比就读中国顶级大学会获得(更高)声望一样,”他接着说。
*cachet['kæʃeɪ]
a quality that marks someone or something as special and worth respect and admiration 声望,声誉;威信
Although Google'ssearch enginehas been blocked in China since2010, the company has maintained a presence in the country and has made progress in mending relations, most recently bycollaborating withlocal government on the AI summit in the town ofWuzhen.
尽管自2010年以来,谷歌的搜索引擎在中国一直被屏蔽,但该公司在全国保持了部分业务,并在修复关系方面取得了进展——比如,不久前与当地政府合作,在乌镇举办了AI高峰会议。
It has relaunchedGoogle Translateas a Chinese-language mobile app, and earlier this year a senior official told the Financial Times that relations with Google were improving.
谷歌已重新上线了此前遭屏蔽的谷歌翻译(Google Translate)——这是一款中文手机应用。今年早些时候,一位高级官员告诉英国《金融时报》,中国政府与谷歌的关系正在改善。
But itsGoogle Playapp store is blocked in China — home to a third of the world's users of Google's Android smartphone operating system.
但Google Play应用商店目前在中国已被屏蔽。中国拥有全球三分之一的谷歌安卓(Android)智能手机操作系统的用户。
For its part, China's government considers technological innovations such as AI key toreviving its slowing economy, and has outlined plans to becomethe world's premier AI innovation hubby 2030.
中国政府认为,AI等技术创新对于重振正在放缓的经济有关键作用,并概要地阐述了到2030年把中国打造成世界主要人工智能创新中心的计划。
China has the benefit ofhuge pools ofpersonal data tofeed intoAI research, and a vast market for AI applications for its smartphone-savvy consumers. But experts say itlags behindthe US in fundamental AI research.
中国的优势在于拥有海量个人数据——可以为AI研究提供资料——以及一个针对熟练使用智能手机的消费者的庞大的AI应用市场。但专家们表示,中国在基础AI研究方面落后于美国。
Analysts say that while Beijing's universities are turning out plenty of computer-science talent, there is a lack of top-level figures such as Baidu's former chief scientistAndrew Ng,who left the company earlier this year.
分析人士称,虽然国内的大学正在培养出大量的计算机科学人才,但是缺乏百度前首席科学家吴恩达(Andrew Ng)那样的顶级人物,吴恩达在今年早些时候离开了百度。
Four of 20 positions being advertised by Google in Beijing are for itsmachine learning programme— part of its AI research initiative — and require expert qualifications, such as those equivalent to anassistant professor's.
谷歌在北京登广告招聘的20个职位中,有4个职位是为其机器学习计划物色的,要求应聘者具有相当于助理教授水平的专业资格。机器学习计划是谷歌AI研究计划的一部分。
Google's more than 600 employees in mainland China include anadvertising sales team, where business is booming as a result of Chinese companies' desire to attract foreign customers, and engineers working on Google's still-blocked search engine.
谷歌在中国大陆拥有600多名员工,其中包括一个广告销售团队。由于中国企业希望吸引外国客户,并且工程师们在改进仍被屏蔽的谷歌搜索引擎,谷歌的业务正蓬勃发展。
Google declined tomake any immediate comment onits AI hiring plans.
谷歌拒绝立即对其AI招聘计划发表意见。
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