2017年1月7日《经济学人》封面文章学习资料

retrieving information to advising on mortgages to making travel arrangements.(Amazon is offering a $1m prize for a bot that can converse “coherently and engagingly\ for 20 minutes.)

尽管深度学习意味着机器能更加可靠的识别人声，发音也不再生硬，但是机器依然无法理解语言的意思。这是语音技术中最困难的一点，真要想蓬勃发展，这是声控电脑所必须克服的问题。电脑必须能够理解文字的意思，才能就某个话题展开连贯对话，而不是像今天常见的，电脑只对简单的、一次性的语音指令做出回应（“嘿，西里，帮我设个10分钟的闹钟”）。在大大小小的高校和公司中，研究员们正在研究这个问题，设计能够针对复杂任务进行细致对话的机器人，从检索信息，到提供房产按揭建议，再到安排行程等。（亚马逊设置了100万美元奖金，奖励能够连贯地愉快聊天20分钟的机器人）

When spells replace spelling

Consumers and regulators also have a role to play in determining how voice computing develops. Even in its current, relatively primitive form, the technology poses a dilemma: voice-driven systems are most useful when they are personalised, and are granted wide access to sources of data such as calendars, e-mails and other sensitive information. That raises privacy and security concerns.

动口代替动手

在语音电脑的发展问题上，消费者和监管者也发挥着一定的决定作用。尽管目前来说，语音技术尚处于相对原始的发展阶段，但它已然让人们陷入两难：声控系统的个性化程度越高，允许接触的私人日程、电邮和其他敏感信息越丰富，则发挥的用处也越大。这引发了人们对隐私和安全问题的担忧。

To further complicate matters, many voice-driven devices are always listening, waiting to be activated. Some people are already concerned about the implications of internet-connected

microphones listening in every room and from every smartphone. Not all audio is sent to the cloud-devices wait for a trigger phrase(\,“ok, Google\“Hey, Cortana”, or“Hey, Siri\they start relaying the user's voice to the servers that actually handle the requests-but when it comes to storing audio, it is unclear who keeps what and when.

从更复杂的角度看，许多声控设备一直都处于待命状态，等待被声音指令一触即发。联网的麦克风监听着每个房间，每一部智能手机，已经有人在担心这一切意味着什么了。并非所有的音频都发送到了云设备——在设备开始将用户语音传达给实际处理语音请求的服务器之前，他们随时等待着“一声令下”（“阿夏丽”，“好，谷歌”，“嘿，微软小娜”，或“嗨，西里”）——但是，一旦开始储存音频，就难说谁会在什么时候保留什么录音了。

Police investigating a murder in Arkansas, which may have been overheard by an Amazon Echo, have asked the company for access to any audio that might have been captured. Amazon has refused to co-operate, arguing(with the backing of privacy advocates) that the legal status of such requests is unclear. The situation is analogous to Apple's refusal in 2o16 to help FBI investigators unlock a terrorist's iPhone; both cases highlight the need for rules that specify when and what intrusions into personal privacy are justified in the interests of security.

警方在阿肯色州调查的一桩谋杀案中，亚马逊智能音箱有可能听到了凶杀过程，于是警方要求公司提供该智能设备可能获取的任何音频资料。亚马逊公司却拒绝合作，理由（受到了隐私拥护者们的支持）是这种要求是否合法尚不明确。无独有偶，2016年，苹果公司也拒绝配合协助FBI调查员解锁一名恐怖分子的苹果手机；这两个案例都突出了明确法规的必要性，出于安全利益考虑，对个人隐私的何时何种侵扰属于合法，应该得到明确。

Consumers will adopt voice computing even if such issues remain unresolved. In many situations voice is far more convenient and natural than any other means of communication. Uniquely, it can also be used while doing something else(driving, working out or walking down the street).It can extend the power of computing to people unable, for one reason or another, to use screens and keyboards. And it could have a dramatic impact not just on computing, but on the use of language itself. Computerised simultaneous translation could render the need to speak a foreign language irrelevant for many people; and in a world where machines can talk, minor languages may be more likely to survive. The arrival of the touchscreen was the last big shift the way humans interact with computers. The leap to speech matters more.

尽管这些问题尚未解决，消费者们仍旧愿意接受语音电脑。在许多情况下，语音比其他交流方式要方便、自然得多。与众不同的是，当你使用它时，还可以同时做其他事情（开车，健身或在街上走路）。语音可以让由于种种原因不能使用屏幕和键盘的人们感受到电脑的力量。它不仅给电脑带来惊人影响，还影响了语言使用本身。电脑同声传译让许多人不必会说外语；在一个机器可以讲话的世界中，小语种生存下去的可能性更高。触屏的到来是人类与电脑互动模式的上一次重大转变。语音的飞跃有过之而无不及。