In the fictional worlds of film and TV, artificial intelligence（AI） has been described as so advanced that it is indistinguishable from humans. But what if we’re actually getting closer to a world where AI is capable of thinking and feeling?
在电影和电视的虚构世界中，人工智能（AI）被描述为非常先进，以至于无法与人类区分开来。但如果我们实际上正逐渐接近一个AI能够思考和感受的世界呢？

Tech company UneeQ is heading for its “digital humans”, which appear lifelike on the screen not only in terms of language, but also because of facial movements: raised eyebrows, a smile, even a nod. They look close to a human, but not quite.
科技公司UneeQ正朝着其“数字人类”前进，他们在屏幕上看起来生动逼真，不仅在语言上，还因为面部动作：抬起眉毛，微笑，甚至点头。它们看起来接近人类，但又不完全一样。

What lies beneath UneeQ’s digital humans? Their 3D faces are modeled on actual human features. Speech recognition enables them to understand what a person is saying, and natural language processing is used to work out a response. Meanwhile, another AI company, Soul Machines, is taking a more biological approach, with a “digital brain” that imitates aspects of the human brain to adjust the emotions “felt” and “expressed” by its “digital people”.
UneeQ的数字人类背后的原理是什么？他们的3D面孔是基于实际人脸特征建模的。语音识别使它们能理解一个人在说什么，自然语言处理用于确定回应。同时，另一家名为Soul Machines的AI公司采取了一种更生物化的方法，拥有一个“数字大脑”，模仿人类大脑的某些方面，以调整其“数字人类”所“感受”和“表达”的情感。

Shiwali Mohan, an AI scientist at the Palo Research Center, is skeptical of these digital beings. “They’re humanlike in their looks and the way they sound, but that in itself is not being human,” she says. “Human qualities also involve how you think, how you approach problems, and how you break them down; and that takes a lot of algorithmic(算法)design. Designing for human-level intelligence is a different attempt than designing images that behave like humans.” She then continues, “If something looks like a human, we have high expectations of them, but they might behave differently in ways that humans just instinctively(直觉地)know how other humans react.
帕洛研究中心的AI科学家Shiwali Mohan对这些数字存在持怀疑态度。“它们在外表和声音上像人类，但单从外表表现来说，并不等同于人类，”她说。“人类特质还涉及你如何思考，如何解决问题，以及如何分解问题；这需要很多算法设计。设计人类级别的智能是一种不同于设计行为像人类的图像的尝试。”她接着说，“如果某事看起来像人类，我们就对它们有很高的期望，但它们可能以人类直觉知道其他人类如何反应的方式做出不同反应。”

Yet the demand is there, with UneeQ seeing high adoption of its digital employees across the financial, health care, and commercial sectors（行业）. “Unless these sectors make their business models much more efficient digitally, they might be left behind,” says Chetan Dube, UneeQ’s CEO.
然而，需求确实存在，UneeQ在金融、医疗保健和商业领域看到其数字员工的高采用率。“除非这些领域让其业务模型在数字上更加高效，否则它们可能会被抛在后面，”UneeQ的首席执行官Chetan Dube说。

Some other companies are taking their digital beings a step further, enabling organizations and individuals to create digital humans themselves using free-access platforms they provide. “The biggest motivation for such platforms is to popularize AI,” Dube says.
其他一些公司正在将它们的数字存在推向更远，使组织和个人能够使用它们提供的免费平台创造数字人类。“这种平台最大的动机是普及人工智能，”Dube说。

Mohan is cautious about this approach, yet she supports the purpose behind these digital beings and is optimistic about where they’re headed. “As we develop more advanced AI technology, we would then have to use new ways of communicating with that technology,” she says. “Hopefully, all of that is designed to support humans in their goals.”
Mohan对这种方法持谨慎态度，但她支持这些数字存在背后的目的，并对它们的发展方向感到乐观。“随着我们开发出更先进的AI技术，我们将不得不使用新的交流方式与这种技术互动，”她说。“希望所有这些都是为了支持人类的目标而设计的。”

1. According to Para. 2, in what respect（s） do UneeQ’s “digital humans” resemble human beings?
   A. In the way they move around.
   B. In the way they act and react.
   C. In observation and analysis.
   D. In speech and facial expressions.
   答案：D

2. Soul Machines’ “digital brain” is a technological breakthrough because it __.
   A. learns to make proper emotional responses
   B. tends to imitate human beings’ tone vividly
   C. recognizes the speech sounds it receives
   D. processes the natural language it hears
   答案：A

3. In Mohan’s opinion, what human quality is lacking in digital beings?
   A. Calculating brain.
   B. Language skills.
   C. Instinctive judgements.
   D. Problem-solving ability.
   答案：C

4. What makes many sectors employ digital humans?
   A. The fear of falling behind in efficiency.
   B. The urgency to promote e-commerce.
   C. The wish to spread digital technology.
   D. The need to upgrade the health care system.
   答案：A

5. What does Mohan think of the future of digital beings?
   A. It’s well planned.
   B. It’s promising.
   C. It’s uncertain.
   D. It’s quite hopeless.
   答案：B