Google’s recent announcement that its DeepMind technology had defeated one of the world’s highest-ranked champions at the ancient game of Go is just one example of the many dramatic advances unfolding in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics. Machines are rapidly taking on ever more challenging cognitive tasks, encroaching on the fundamental capability that sets humans apart as a species: our ability to make complex decisions, to solve problems — and, most importantly, to learn. DeepMind’s feat was especially remarkable not just because the technology ultimately prevailed, but because the system largely trained itself to do so.
谷歌(Google)最近宣布其DeepMind技術在古老的圍棋比賽中擊敗了世界排名最高的冠軍之一。這只不過是人類在人工智能和機器人領域取得的許多戲劇性進展的一個例子。機器正在迅速承擔起越來越具挑戰性的認知任務，開始形成使人類有別于其他物種的根本能力：我們做出復雜決定的能力、解決問題的能力，以及（最重要的）學習的能力。DeepMind的功績之所以尤其引人矚目，不僅僅是因為技術終于占了上風，而且還因為它基本上是憑借自我訓練戰勝了對手。