网络和手机的影响改变了世界以及我们互相之间关联的方式。取代见面， 我们更多地通过手持设备来交流。某种意义上，真实的人消失了，取而代之的是科技和虚拟的朋友。有些人甚至说他们更愿意向他们的虚拟朋友袒露心声而非他们真正的朋友！
The Internet and smartphones have changed the wrold and how we relate to each other. Instead of meeting in person, we increasingly interface through handheld devices. In a sense, real people are being removed, replaced by technology and vitual friends. Some people even say that they prefer to confide in their virtual friends rather than their real friends!
AI, 或者说人工智能， 是另一项极具颠覆性的技术。在AI的加持下，手机和其他设备将有更多的功能。它们能够与我们交流，和我们开玩笑。他们甚至会成为个人导师， 取代我们在线的人类教师。它们能够这样做是因为它们能够访问我们的生活历史。他们将知道我们有什么难题，我们的偏好， 以及任何我们想要学习或者尝试的内容。它们能够适应我们的需求并且在任何时候满足我们。所有这些都比使用人类花费更少。
AI, or artificial intelligence, is another technology that is highly disruptive. With AI, smartphone and other devices will have even more capbilities. They will be able to converse with us and tell us jokes. They may even become personal tutors, and replace our online tutors. They will be able to do this because they will have access to our life histories. THey will wihat kind of problems we have, our preferences, and any content we want to learn or practice. They will be able to adapt to our needs and be available at any time. And all of this will cost less than using a human.
事实上，AI对人类劳动力的替代有潜力改变这个世界。专家警告称智能的机器可能会造成大范围的失业。很多劳动者将被解雇， 取代他们的是比人类能够更好完成认知型任务的机器。 一个更大的危险是它们会发展出个性而且变得比人更有趣。为孤独的人生产AI伴侣的工作已经在进行中了。
In fact, the substitution of AIs for human labor has the potential to transform the world. Experts warn that smart machines may cause widespread unemployment. Many workers will become retadundant, replaced by machines that can perform cognitive tasks better than people. An even great danger is that they will develop personalities and become more interesting than pepple. Works are already underway to produce AI companions for lonely people.
这些发展值得我们担心还是欢迎？ 它们和过去的发展有何不同，例如工业革命？汽车取代了马匹；机器和工业机器人取代了工厂的工人。
Are these developments something to worry or welcome? How are they different from developments in the past, such as the industrial revolution? Cars replaced horses; machines and industrial rebots replaced factory workers.
既然转换到AI是不可避免的，决策者的挑战将是帮助当前的劳动者获得新的技能。未来的一代必须准备好面对一个充满了能够持续进化和接手新任务的AI的工作场所。 我们接受挑战吗？
Since the shift to AI is inevitable, the challenge for policy makers will be to help existing workers acquire new skills. Future generations must be prepared for a workplace populated with AIs that will continue to develop and take on new tasks, Are we up to the task?
重点词扩展
interface
1
N-COUNT (学科或系统间相互影响或衔接的)边缘区域,接合部位The interface between two subjects or systems is the area in which they affect each other or have links with each other.
...a witty exploration of that interface between bureaucracy and the working world.
对官僚阶层与劳动大众之间的临界区域的风趣探究
2
N-COUNT (软件的用户)界面If you refer to the user interface of a particular piece of computing software, you are talking about its presentation on screen and how easy it is to operate.
...the development of better user interfaces.
更友好的用户界面的开发
3
N-COUNT (计算机或电子设备的)接口In computing and electronics, an interface is an electrical cricuit which links one machine, especially a computer, with another.
4
V-RECIP-ERG (使)(与…)相互联系（或连接）If one thing interfaces with another, or if two things interface, they have connections with each other. If you interface one thing with another, you connect the two things.
...the way we interface with the environment...
我们与环境相互作用的方式
The different components all have to interface smoothly...
不同的部件都必须能顺利接合。
virtual
1
ADJ 几乎的;实际上的;事实上的You can use virtual to indicate that something is so nearly true that for most purposes it can be regarded as true.
Argentina came to a virtual standstill while the game was being played...
在比赛进行的时候，阿根廷全国几乎陷入了停顿状态。
He claimed to be a virtual prisoner in his own home.
他说自己在家里简直就像是个囚犯。
2
ADJ 虚拟的;模拟的Virtual objects and activities are generated by a computer to simulate real objects and activities.
Up to four players can compete in a virtual world of role playing...
最多可以有4个玩家在一个虚拟世界中扮演角色互相拼杀。
This is a virtual shopping centre offering visitors entry to a clutch of well-known etailers without going to their different websites.
这是一个虚拟的购物中心，访问者在此就可以浏览很多著名的网上零售店铺，而无需分别访问它们各自的网站。
confide
VERB 吐露（或倾诉）秘密If you confide in someone, you tell them a secret.
I knew she had some fundamental problems in her marriage because she had confided in me a year earlier...
我知道她的婚姻存在一些根本性的问题，早在一年前她就向我倾诉过。
He confided to me that he felt like he was being punished...
他向我诉说他觉得自己像是在受罚。
disruptive
ADJ-GRADED 破坏性的;制造混乱的To be disruptive means to prevent something from continuing or operating in a normal way.
Alcohol can produce violent, disruptive behavior...
酒精会引发暴力和破坏性行为。
The process of implementing these changes can be very disruptive to a small company.
对于小公司来说，实行这些变革可能会带来灭顶之灾。
converse
1
V-RECIP (与…)交谈;(和…)说话If you converse with someone, you talk to them. You can also say that two people converse .
Luke sat directly behind the pilot and conversed with him...
卢克就坐在飞行员后面，并且和他说着话。
They were conversing in German, their only common language.
他们正用德语交谈，这是他们唯一的共同语言。
2
N-SING 相反的声明;相反的话;相反的言论The converse of a statement is its opposite or reverse.
What you do for a living is critical to where you settle and how you live — and the converse is also true.
一个人的谋生手段对于其居住地的选择和生活方式来说有着至关重要的影响，反之亦然。
substitution
1.
In my experience a straight substitution of carob for chocolate doesn'twork.
根据我的经验，用角豆制品直接代替巧克力行不通。
2.
We use saccharin in substitution for sugar.
我们用糖精代替糖.
3.
Substitution, No.3 for No.4.
换人,4号下, 3号上.
substitute
1
V-ERG 用…代替;取代;替换If you substitute one thing for another, or if one thing substitutes for another, it takes the place or performs the function of the other thing.
They were substituting violence for dialogue...
他们在用暴力取代对话。
You could always substitute a low-fat soft cheese...
你总是可以代之以低脂肪的软奶酪。
2
N-COUNT 代替者;代替物;代用品A substitute is something that you have or use instead of something else.
She is seeking a substitute for the very man whose departure made her cry.
那个男人的离去令她伤心痛哭，她正想找一个人填补内心的空缺。
...tests on humans to find a blood substitute made from animal blood.
为从动物血液中提取人血的替代品而在人体上进行的试验
3
N-COUNT 令人满意的替代物;与之媲美的事物If you say that one thing is no substitute for another, you mean that it does not have certain desirable features that the other thing has, and is therefore unsatisfactory. If you say that there is no substitute for something, you mean that it is the only thing which is really satisfactory.
The printed word is no substitute for personal discussion with a great thinker...
阅读印在纸上的内容远不如与伟大的思想家面对面探讨那般受益。
There is no substitute for practical experience.
实践经验是无法替代的。
4
N-COUNT 替补(运动员)In team games such as football, a substitute is a player who is brought into a match to replace another player.
Coming on as a substitute, he scored four crucial goals for Cameroon.
作为替补队员上场的他为喀麦隆队打入了四粒关键进球。
1
V-ERG 用…代替;取代;替换If you substitute one thing for another, or if one thing substitutes for another, it takes the place or performs the function of the other thing.
They were substituting violence for dialogue...
他们在用暴力取代对话。
You could always substitute a low-fat soft cheese...
你总是可以代之以低脂肪的软奶酪。
2
N-COUNT 代替者;代替物;代用品A substitute is something that you have or use instead of something else.
She is seeking a substitute for the very man whose departure made her cry.
那个男人的离去令她伤心痛哭，她正想找一个人填补内心的空缺。
...tests on humans to find a blood substitute made from animal blood.
为从动物血液中提取人血的替代品而在人体上进行的试验
3
N-COUNT 令人满意的替代物;与之媲美的事物If you say that one thing is no substitute for another, you mean that it does not have certain desirable features that the other thing has, and is therefore unsatisfactory. If you say that there is no substitute for something, you mean that it is the only thing which is really satisfactory.
The printed word is no substitute for personal discussion with a great thinker...
阅读印在纸上的内容远不如与伟大的思想家面对面探讨那般受益。
There is no substitute for practical experience.
实践经验是无法替代的。
4
N-COUNT 替补(运动员)In team games such as football, a substitute is a player who is brought into a match to replace another player.
Coming on as a substitute, he scored four crucial goals for Cameroon.
作为替补队员上场的他为喀麦隆队打入了四粒关键进球。
redundant
1
ADJ （人员因过剩）被解雇的，被裁减的If you are made redundant, your employer tells you to leave because your job is no longer necessary or because your employer cannot afford to keep paying you.
My husband was made redundant late last year.
我丈夫去年年底被裁了。
...a redundant miner.
失业的矿工
2
ADJ 多余的；不再需要的；过剩的Something that is redundant is no longer needed because its job is being done by something else or because its job is no longer necessary or useful.
Changes in technology may mean that once-valued skills are now redundant.
技术上的革新可能意味着曾经被重视的技术现在已变得多余。
...the conversion of redundant buildings to residential use.
将空置大楼改造为住宅
cognitive
1
ADJ 认识过程的;认知的Cognitive means relating to the mental process involved in knowing, learning, and understanding things.
As children grow older, their cognitive processes become sharper.
孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
...Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development.
维果斯基的认知发展理论