人工智能的终极考验

    用来判断电脑能否“思考”的科学测试简单得出奇：它能聊天吗？所谓的“图灵测试”就是说，如果一台电脑能和人自然地交流而不露馅，它就算是智能的。迄今为止，还没有哪台电脑能达到这个标准。

    现在，IBM公司的研究员埃里克·布朗肩负使命，要改变这一现状。这位45岁的科学家是超级计算机Watson的研发主力。2011年，Watson在Jeopardy!（美国老牌智力问答节目——译注）上一举击败了人类对手。作为这台机器的教练，布朗最大的困难不在于让Watson掌握更多知识，而是如何让它懂得人类微妙的表达，尤其是俚语。他说：“作为人类，我们其实并不明白自己的交流到底有多少模糊不清的地方。”

    比如：两年前，布朗曾试着教Watson掌握“城市词典”（Urban Dictionary）网站上的词汇。这个流行的词汇网站包含了各种词语的解释，从OMG（噢，我的上帝！）这样的网络缩写，到“一团糟”这样的俚语，不一而足。

    可是，Watson没法分清文明用语和脏话——而这恰恰是充斥着城市词典的东西。Watson还从在维基百科（Wikipedia）上学会了一些坏习惯。在一些测试中，它甚至会用“胡扯”这样的话来回答研究员的提问。最后，布朗率领的35人的研究团队只好开发了一个过滤系统，让Watson不再骂脏话，并在它的存储系统里清除了城市词典。但这个试验恰恰说明了，要让人工智能学会自然地交流是多么困难。目前，布朗正在训练Watson成为医院的诊断工具。这就不需要它学会OMG这类词儿了。

    译者：清远

    The scientific test to gauge if a computer can "think" is surprisingly simple: Can it engage in small talk? The so-called Turing test says a computer capable of carrying on a natural conversation without giving itself away can be considered intelligent. So far, no machine has made the cut.

    Eric Brown, a research scientist with IBM (IBM), is charged with changing that. The 45-year-old is the brains behind　Watson, the supercomputer that pummeled human opponents on Jeopardy! in 2011. The biggest difficulty for Brown, as tutor to a machine, hasn't been making Watson know more but making it understand subtlety, especially slang. "As humans, we don't realize just how ambiguous our communication is," he says.

    Case in point: Two years ago, Brown attempted to teach Watson the Urban Dictionary. The popular website contains definitions for terms ranging from Internet abbreviations like OMG, short for "Oh, my God," to slang such as "hot mess."

    But Watson couldn't distinguish between polite language and profanity -- which the Urban Dictionary is full of. Watson picked up some bad habits from reading Wikipedia as well. In tests it even used the word "bullshit" in an answer to a researcher's query.

    Ultimately, Brown's 35-person team developed a filter to keep Watson from swearing and scraped the Urban Dictionary from its memory. But the trial proves just how thorny it will be to get artificial intelligence to communicate naturally. Brown is now training Watson as a diagnostic tool for hospitals. No knowledge of OMG required.