0410读《经济学人》多聊点人工智能（下篇）

＊Untilnow the main beneficiary of AI has been the technology sector（科技领域，注意领域这个词用sector）. Most of today’sleading tech firms, such as Google and Amazon in the West and Alibaba and Baiduin China, would not be as big and successful without AI forproduct recommendations, targeted advertising（定向广告） and forecasting demand.

＊AI willhave a “more profound” impact than electricity or fire.

＊Bosses of non-tech companiesin a broadrange ofindustries are starting to worry that AI could scorch or evenincinerate（焚毁[ɪnˈsɪnəˌreɪt]them,and have beenbuying up（买下，购进）promising young tech firms to ensure they do not fall behind.

＊They are doing this partly to securetalent, which is thin on the ground（少之又少thin onthe ground）.

*As AIspreads beyond the tech sector, it will fuel the rise of (推动什么的兴起)new firms that challenge incumbents（ 在任的[ɪn'kʌmbənt]）. This is already happening in the carindustry, with autonomous-vehicle（自动驾驶车）startups（创业公司）and ride-hailingfirms（打车公司）such as Uber. Butit will also change the way other companies work, transforming traditionalfunctions（传统职能） such assupply-chain management, customer service and recruitment.

＊The path ahead is exhilarating but perilous（'perələs危机四伏）. Largecompanies and industries, such as finance, that generate a lot of data, tend tobe ahead（领先） and often buildtheir own AI-enhanced（enhanced增强型） systems. But many firms will choose towork with the growing array of （不断扩充的）independentAI vendors（供应商）, including cloudproviders（云端供应商）, consultants andstartups（初创公司）.

＊This is not just acorporate race but an international one, too, especially between America andChina. Chinese firms have an early edge(提前), not least because the government keeps a vastdatabase of faces（人脸数据库） thatcan help train facial-recognition algorithms（人脸识别算法）; and privacy is less of a concern than inthe West.

＊There will be plenty of opportunities tostumble（失败，绊倒）. One difficultissue for companies will be timing.

＊Companies are flailing （动来动去[fleɪl] ）tofigure out what to spend money on.”

＊harness technology利用技术

Theexcitement around AI has made it hard to separate hype from reality.区分炒作和现实

Bossesmust keep several time horizons（时间回报期） inmind. In the near future AI will reshape    traditional business functionssuch as finance, HR and customer service.

*Workerswho keep their jobs are more likely to feel spied on by（被监视） their employers. Some firms already use AIto comb ［kəʊm］ through（彻底搜查。Comb本身是梳子的意思） their workers’ communications to ensurethat they are not breaking the law. Such practices will spread, raising privacyissues.

＊A longer-termconcern is the way AI creates a virtuous circle （良性循环）or “flywheel” effect飞轮效应, allowingcompanies that embrace it to operate more efficiently, generate more data,improve their services, attract more customers and offer lower prices.

＊That sounds like agood thing, but it could also lead to more corporate concentration（企业整合） and monopoly power（垄断）—as has alreadyhappened in the technology sector.