Facebook首席执行官分享关于人工智能的3点心得

如果你的保安摄像机不仅能看到谁在你门口，还能判断出他们是否是你在等的人，从而通知你并让他们进来，会怎么样？如果你的扬声器系统能在你的孩子醒来时自动播放音乐呢？

这就是Facebook的首席执行官马克·扎克伯格试图在他的虚拟管家Jarvis上植入的功能类型。作为新年决心的一部分，他今年一直在开发这个管家。

随着2016年邻近尾声，扎克伯格发布了一篇长博文，详细讲述了Jarvis可以实现的工作类别。他也提到了开发人工智能软件时遭遇的最大挑战，预测了人工智能的发展方向。他最重要的发现之一是：尽管人工智能正在飞速发展，却仍然需要人类给出足够的引导。

扎克伯格表示：“我们知道怎样让计算机学习关于某事物的大量案例，从而让它准确地做出识别。但是我们还不知道怎样获取某个领域的意图，再把它应用到另一个完全不同的领域去。”

扎克伯格还写道：“找到这个问题的解决方案并将其应用到全世界”会很有趣，但目前Jarvis的代码与他的住宅和个人信息捆绑得过于紧密，无法开源。不过，他并未排除以后为公众开发人工智能助手的想法。他表示：“这可能会为打造新产品奠定很好的基础。”

以下是这位Facebook首席执行官对于人工智能的现状、虚拟助手以及它们在未来的潜力的其他看法。

家庭人工智能助手需要把一切设备连接起来

扎克伯格指出，开发Jarvis时遭遇的一个难题是如何搭造系统，把家里所有类型电器和设备——如Sonos扬声器、三星（Samsung）电视和Nest相机——连接起来。

他写道：“想要让Jarvis这类助手帮助更多人控制家里的一切事情，我们就得让更多设备连接起来。整个行业需要建立通用的应用程序接口和标准，让设备能够互相通信。”

一些科技公司已经开始打造自己的智能家居平台，希望借此解决上述问题，例如苹果（Apple）的HomeKit和谷歌（Alphabet）的“Works With Nest”项目和Weave语言。但我们距离让家里的每个电器都能与任意其他电器通信，还有很长的路要走。例如，HomeKit目前只能兼容闹钟、供热和制冷设备、恒温控制器、灯管和开关，无法控制洗衣机或烹饪设备。而在众多智能家居平台中，消费者往往只能选用一个，这也限制了它们的功能。

手机是人工智能助手的完美载体

类似苹果Siri和亚马逊Alexa这样的数字助手已经出现在笔记本电脑、智能手机、家庭扬声器等各种产品里。然而，扎克伯格认为移动设备才是人工智能助手的合适载体，因为它的使用范围不局限于家里。

他写道：“我希望自己不在家的时候也能联系到Jarvis，所以要让手机成为主要接口，而不是家庭设备，这点很关键。”

文本输入和语音输入同样重要

亚马逊的Echo取得成功后，科技界的许多人都翘首期盼以语音为主的接口的发展，但扎克伯格认为，文本输入仍将在我们与人工智能的互动中扮演重要角色。成功的助手需要同时支持文本和语音输入，类似于微软（Microsoft）的Cortana。

他写道：“与Jarvis的交流中，有一点让我惊讶：在我既可以语音又可以打字的时候，我选择文本交流的次数超出了我的预料。” （财富中文网）

作者：Lisa Eadicicco

译者：严匡正

What if your security camera could not only see who’s at your door, but also identify whether it’s a guest you’re expecting, alert you when they arrive, and let them in? Or how about a speaker system that automatically plays music as your child wakes up?

That’s the type of functionality Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is trying to build into his virtual butler, Jarvis, which he’s been developing throughout the year as part of his New Year’s resolution.

With 2016 coming to a close, Zuckerberg published a lengthy blog post detailing the types of tasks Jarvis can accomplish. He also wrote about the biggest challenges that he faced when developing his artificial intelligence (AI) software, and where he believes AI is heading. One of his most significant takeaways was that, although AI is advancing quickly, it still requires a decent amount of human guidance.

“We know how to show a computer many examples of something so it can recognize it accurately, but we still do not know how to take an idea from one domain and apply it to something completely different,” wrote Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg also wrote that it would be “interesting to find ways to make this available to the world,” but the current code is too tightly tied to his own home and personal information to open-source it. But he didn’t rule out the idea of eventually developing an AI assistant for the public. “That could be a great foundation to build a new product,” he wrote.

Here’s a look at what else the Facebook CEO now believes about the state of AI, virtual assistants, and the potential they have for the future.

Home AI Has to Be Able to Connect Everything

Zuckerberg noted that one of the struggles he encountered while building Jarvis was creating a system that could connect all of the types of appliances and devices in his home, from Sonos speakers to a Samsung TV and Nest camera.

“For assistants like Jarvis to be able to control everything in homes for more people, we need more devices to be connected and the industry needs to develop common APIs and standards for the devices to talk to each other,” he wrote.

Some tech companies are trying to address this problem by building their own smart home platforms, like Apple with HomeKit AAPL 0.58% and Alphabet GOOGL 0.33% through its “Works With Nest” program and its Weave language. But we’re still far from a reality in which every single appliance in the home can communicate with one another. HomeKit, for instance, is currently only compatible with devices like alarms, heating and cooling devices, thermostats, lights, and switches, not laundry or cooking appliances. And with multiple smart home platforms available, buyers usually must commit to one, limiting their functionality.

The Phone Is the Perfect Home for an AI Assistant

Digital helpers like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa have made their way to all types of gadgets, from laptops to smartwatches, and home speakers. Zuckerberg, however, feels that mobile devices are the right vessel for AI assistants because you’re not restricted to only engaging with them when you’re home.

“I want to communicate with Jarvis when I’m not home, so having the phone be the primary interface rather than a home device seems critical,” he wrote.

Text Input Is Just as Important as Voice

While much of the tech industry has been fixated on the rise of the voice-centric interface following the success of Amazon’s Echo AMZN 1.09% , Zuckerberg believes text input will still play a large role in how we interact with AI. A helpful assistant should support both text and voice input, similar to Microsoft’s Cortana MSFT 2.12% .

“One thing that surprised me about my communication with Jarvis is that when I have the choice of either speaking or texting, I text much more than I would have expected,” he wrote.