人工智能:深度学习
第1段开篇就用“摇滚明星”来点AI在科技领域的地位了,接着带出了AI的一个重要分支——深度学习,用其高薪现实来抓人眼球。于是第二段便告诉我们获得这种高薪工作的标准途径对普通人来说并不是最佳途径,以便引出文章标题“No Phd, No Problem:New Schemes Teach the Masses to Build AI”。
接着,文章重点说了一个非营利教育机构fast.ai,它提供深度学习课程,简单地介绍了创始人建立这个机构的目标,以一位首届毕业生的经历来说明了该课程的影响。
我们继续看文章的最后三段。
第六段
从文章的第二、三段知道,进入这些工作岗位的标准途径是花费几年时间攻读美国一所顶尖大学的计算机科学博士学位,结果有了攻读博士学位的替代性选择,且这种选择可不止一种哦。
Fast.ai’s is not the only alternative AI programme. AI4ALL, another non-profit venture, works to bring AI education to schoolchildren in the United States that would otherwise not have access to it. Andrew Ng, another well-known figure in the field, has started his own online course, deeplearning.ai.
well-known:有名的,知名的;
表示“知名的、著名的”还可以用prestigious, well-recognized, renowed,well-rated等。
段落大意:Fast.ai课程并非是替代博士学位来接触AI项目的唯一选择。AI4ALL则是另一家非营利机构,致力于为没有机会接受AI教育的美国学童提供这种教育。该领域另一位知名人士安德鲁·吴(Andrew Ng)已经开设了自己的在线课程deeplearning.ai。
第七段
第七段再说回Fast.ai,看看它的创始人 杰里米•霍华德(Jeremy Howard)的雄心壮志是如何。
Mr Howard’s ambitions run deeper than loosening the AI labour market.② His aim is to spread deep learning into many hands, so that it may be applied in as diverse a set of fields by as diverse a group of people as possible. So far, it has been controlled by a small number of mostly young white men, almost all of whom have been employed by the tech giants. The ambition, says Mr Howard, is for AI training software to become as easy to use and ubiquitous as sending an email on a smartphone.
先来捋一下第二句:His aim is to spread deep learning into many hands, so that it may be applied in as diverse a set of fields by as diverse a group of people as possible.重点看看后半句as…as possible的用法,这里用了两个“尽可能地”, 省略了第一个“as possible”, as diverse a set of fields (as possible)by as diverse a group of people as possible
as easy to use and ubiquitous as…像……一样容易使用、无处不在
段落大意:霍华德的雄心壮志远不止于放松AI劳动力市场。他的目标是将深度学习传播到更多人手中,这样它就可以被尽可能多样化的人群应用到尽可能多样化的领域中。到目前为止,该公司一直由一小部分人控制,这些人大多数是年轻白人男性,且几乎都受雇于科技巨头。霍华德表示,他的雄心是让AI培训软件变得像用智能手机发电子邮件一样容易使用、无处不在。
第八段
这个段落比较长,分成三个部分。
Some experts worry that this will serve only to create a flood of dodgy AI systems which will be useless at best and dangerous at worst.
serve to:产生……的结果
a flood of:许多,一大批;
阅读中,"a+n.+of"的结构可以理解成 many / some 的意思。比如本文最后一句话中的a crop of 就可以理解为“一些、一批…”,在阅读理解中如果中间的名词不认识,或者虽然是认识的词却不知如何处理,就可以试着处理成“很多”的意思,如a plethora of monsters 种类繁多的怪物, a world of information指“海量信息”。
dodgy:not working well; not in good condition 有毛病的;运转不良的;状况不佳的
at best:最多,充其量
at worst:在最坏的情况下
An analogy may allay those concerns. In the earliest days of the internet, only a select few nerds with specific skills could build applications. Not many people used them. Then the invention of the world wide web led to an explosion of web pages, both good and bad. But it was only by opening up to all that the internet gave birth to online shopping, instant global communications and search.
allay:to make sth, especially a feeling, less strong 减轻(尤指情绪)
例如: to allay fears/concern/suspicion 减轻恐惧;减轻忧虑;减少怀疑
a select few := a small number of people;
application:应用程序,应用软件
If Mr Howard and others have their way, making the development of AI software easier will bring forth a new crop of fruit of a different kind.
have their way:如愿以偿,按他们的方式做
bring forth:产生
段落大意:一些专家担心,这只会导致劣质的AI系统泛滥成灾,往好了说是无用的,往坏了说是危险的。打个比方可能会缓解这些担忧。在互联网的早期,只有少数具有特定技能的书呆子才能构建应用程序。使用它们的人并不多。然后,万维网的问世导致了网页的爆炸式增长,内容也是良莠不齐。但正是互联网的全面开放才催生了网上购物、即时全球通信和搜索。如果霍华德和其他人能如愿以偿,让AI软件的开发更友好,这将会催生出一批新成果。
最后,对文章做一个大概的梳理吧
外刊精读:中学生也能学习研发AI软件!(一) -
外刊精读:中学生也能学习研发AI软件!(二) -
译文仅供参考,若有不准确之处,还请温柔提点。