Ever since computers were invented, we've been trying to make them smarter and more powerful. From the abacus, to room-sized machines, to desktops, to computers in our pockets. And are now designing artificial intelligence to automate tasks that would require human intelligence. If you look at the history of computing, we've always treated computers as external devices that compute and act on our behalf. What I want to do is I want to weave computing, AI and internet as part of us. As part of human cognition, freeing us to interact with the world around us. Integrate human and machine intelligence right inside our own bodies to augment us, instead of diminishing us or replacing us.
自从电脑被发明出来, 我们一直致力于使它们更加聪明和强大。 从算盘,到房间大小的机器, 到台式机,再到可以 放进我们口袋里的电脑。 现在我们开始设计人工智能, 来完成要求人类智能 来完成的自动化工作。 如果你看一下计算机的历史, 我们总是将电脑看成一个外部的装置, 代表我们来进行计算和行动。 我想做的,则是把计算、人工智能 和网络整合在一起成为我们的一部分。 作为人类认知的一部分, 它们使我们可以自由地与 周围的世界互动。 人类能力强化,可以通过 使人类和机械智能 在我们的身体里成为一个整体来实现, 而不是让它弱化我们,或者替代我们。
Could we combine what people do best, such as creative and intuitive thinking, with what computers do best, such as processing information and perfectly memorizing stuff? Could this whole be better than the sum of its parts?
我们可不可以把人类最擅长的, 比如创造力和直觉思维 和电脑最擅长的, 比如信息处理和 完美的记忆力结合起来呢? 这会不会产生1加1大于2的效果呢?
We have a device that could make that possible. It's called AlterEgo, and it's a wearable device that gives you the experience of a conversational AI that lives inside your head, that you could talk to in likeness to talking to yourself internally. We have a new prototype that we're showing here, for the first time at TED, and here's how it works.
我们有一个装置 可以使这个设想成为可能。 它叫做AlterEgo, 是一个可穿戴的装置, 你会感觉到它是一个 生活在你大脑里的, 可以进行对话的人工智能, 这种感觉就像是你在和 你心里的自己对话。 我们这里展示的是我们的一个新的样本, 这是我们第一次在TED进行展示, 它是这么工作的。
Normally, when we speak, the brain sends neurosignals through the nerves to your internal speech systems, to activate them and your vocal cords to produce speech. One of the most complex cognitive and motor tasks that we do as human beings. Now, imagine talking to yourself without vocalizing, without moving your mouth, without moving your jaw, but by simply articulating those words internally. Thereby very subtly engaging your internal speech systems, such as your tongue and back of your palate. When that happens, the brain sends extremely weak signals to these internal speech systems.
通常来说,当我们说话的时候, 大脑会通过神经 向你的内部语言系统传递神经信号 来激活它们,让你的声带可以开始讲话。 这是我们作为人类,进行的 最复杂的与认知和肌肉运动 有关的工作之一。 现在,想象一下和你自己说话, 不要发出声音, 不要动嘴, 不要动下巴, 只需要在心里清晰的将这些单词说出来, 也就是非常巧妙地运用 你的内部语言系统, 比如你的舌头和上颚的后半部分。 在这个时候, 大脑会发送非常微弱的信号 给这些内部语言系统,
AlterEgo has sensors, embedded in a thin plastic, flexible and transparent device that sits on your neck just like a sticker. These sensors pick up on these internal signals sourced deep within the mouth cavity, right from the surface of the skin. An AI program running in the background then tries to figure out what the user's trying to say. It then feeds back an answer to the user by means of bone conduction, audio conducted through the skull into the user's inner ear, that the user hears, overlaid on top of the user's natural hearing of the environment, without blocking it.
AlterEgo有传感器, 嵌入在一个薄薄的、 柔韧且透明的塑料装置里, 可以像贴纸一样贴在你的脖子上。 这些传感器会透过表面的皮肤, 在口腔的深处获得 并感应到这些内部信号。 一个人工智能程序在后台运行, 试图分辨出用户想说的话。 之后它会通过骨骼传导 将答案反馈给用户, 声音通过颅骨传到用户的内耳, 用户所听到的声音 覆盖在自然听觉环境上面, 并不会屏蔽它。
The combination of all these parts, the input, the output and the AI, gives a net subjective experience of an interface inside your head that you could talk to in likeness to talking to yourself. Just to be very clear, the device does not record or read your thoughts. It records deliberate information that you want to communicate through deliberate engagement of your internal speech systems. People don't want to be read, they want to write. Which is why we designed the system to deliberately record from the peripheral nervous system. Which is why the control in all situations resides with the user.
这些部分的结合: 输入,输出和人工智能, 使你脑中的界面有了 一个非常主观的经验, 就是你可以像跟自己说话一样说话。 需要阐明的一点是,这个装备 不会记录或者读取你的想法。 它只会记录你想交流的 并通过你内部语言系统的有意参与 而透露出来的信息。 人们不想被读取想法, 他们更愿意写出来。 这就是为什么我们设计这个系统来 特意的从外周神经系统来记录信息。 这就是为什么所有情况下的 控制权都属于用户。
I want to stop here for a second and show you a live demo. What I'm going to do is, I'm going to ask Eric a question. And he's going to search for that information without vocalizing, without typing, without moving his fingers, without moving his mouth. Simply by internally asking that question. The AI will then figure out the answer and feed it back to Eric, through audio, through the device. While you see a laptop in front of him, he's not using it. Everything lives on the device. All he needs is that sticker device to interface with the AI and the internet. So, Eric, what's the weather in Vancouver like, right now? What you see on the screen are the words that Eric is speaking to himself right now. This is happening in real time.
这里我想暂停一下, 给你们一个现场的演示。 我将向Eric问一个问题。 他将搜索这个问题的信息, 不是通过语言,也不是通过打字, 也不会移动他的手指, 或者是动一下嘴。 只是在心里问这个问题。 人工智能将会找出这个答案 并过声音,通过这个装置 发送给Eric。 你看到他面前有一个笔记本电脑, 他不会用这个电脑。 所有的东西都在装置上面。 他需要的只是那个像贴纸一样的装置, 去连接人工智能和互联网。 那么Eric,现在温哥华的天气怎么样? 现在你在屏幕上面看到的 就是Eric现在在心里对他自己说的话。 这是实时发生的。
Eric: It's 50 degrees and rainy here in Vancouver.
Eric:现在温哥华的气温为 10摄氏度,有雨。
Arnav Kapur: What happened is that the AI sent the answer through audio, through the device, back to Eric.
所以,人工智能将答案 通过语音和装置发回给Eric。
What could the implications of something like this be? Imagine perfectly memorizing things, where you perfectly record information that you silently speak, and then hear them later when you want to, internally searching for information, crunching numbers at speeds computers do, silently texting other people. Suddenly becoming multilingual, so that you internally speak in one language, and hear the translation in your head in another. The potential could be far-reaching.
这会给我们什么样的启示呢? 想象一下完美的记忆, 在你无声表达的时候 可以完美的记录信息, 然后等到你需要的时候可以去听, 还可以在内部搜寻信息, 处理数字的速度就像电脑那样, 静静的向其他人发送信息。 突然变得多语言化, 那么当你在心里说一种语言, 你会听到另外一种语言的翻译。 这个装置的潜力影响深远。
There are millions of people around the world who struggle with using natural speech. People with conditions such as ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, stroke and oral cancer, amongst many other conditions. For them, communicating is a painstakingly slow and tiring process.
现在世界上有数以百万计的人 挣扎于无法使用自然语言。 比如身患肌萎缩侧索硬化症, 或者葛雷克氏症的人们, 中风,以及口腔癌, 还有除此以外的其它情况。 对于他们来说,交流是一个 艰苦漫长和疲惫的过程。
This is Doug. Doug was diagnosed with ALS about 12 years ago and has since lost the ability to speak. Today, he uses an on-screen keyboard where he types in individual letters using his head movements. And it takes several minutes to communicate a single sentence. So we went to Doug and asked him what were the first words he'd like to use or say, using our system. Perhaps a greeting, like, "Hello, how are you?" Or indicate that he needed help with something. What Doug said that he wanted to use our system for is to reboot the old system he had, because that old system kept on crashing.
这是道格。 道格在12年前被诊断出患了 肌萎缩侧索硬化症, 并且从那时候开始就丧失了说话的能力。 今天,他使用一个屏幕键盘, 通过他脑部的活动 来打出一个个单独的字母。 通常这需要好几分钟 才能交流一个简单的句子。 所以我们找到道格并问他, 通过我们的系统,你想使用 或者说出的第一个词是什么。 可能是一个招呼,比如, “嗨,你好吗?” 或者表示他需要某些帮助。 道格说他希望用我们的系统 去重新启动他的旧系统, 因为旧的系统一直在崩溃。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
We never could have predicted that. I'm going to show you a short clip of Doug using our system for the first time.
这是我们完全没有预料到的。 我将向大家展示一个道格 第一次使用我们系统的短片。
(Voice) Reboot computer.
(声音)重启电脑。
AK: What you just saw there was Doug communicating or speaking in real time for the first time since he lost the ability to speak. There are millions of people who might be able to communicate in real time like Doug, with other people, with their friends and with their families. My hope is to be able to help them express their thoughts and ideas.
你们在这里看到的, 是道格自从失去说话的能力以来, 第一次实时的进行交流或者说话。 有无数的人, 他们可能可以像道格一样 和其他人,他们的朋友, 他们的家人进行实时的交流。 我的希望是可以帮助他们 表达他们的想法和观点。
I believe computing, AI and the internet would disappear into us as extensions of our cognition, instead of being external entities or adversaries, amplifying human ingenuity, giving us unimaginable abilities and unlocking our true potential. And perhaps even freeing us to becoming better at being human.
我相信计算、人工智能和互联网 可以作为思维的延伸消失并融入我们, 而不是成为外部的存在或者对手, (它们可以)增强人类的创造力, 赋予我们无法想象的能力, 解锁我们真正的潜力。 也许甚至可以让我们成为更好的人类。
Thank you so much.
谢谢大家。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Shoham Arad: Come over here. OK. I want to ask you a couple of questions, they're going to clear the stage. I feel like this is amazing, it's innovative, it's creepy, it's terrifying. Can you tell us what I think ... I think there are some uncomfortable feelings around this. Tell us, is this reading your thoughts, will it in five years, is there a weaponized version of this, what does it look like?
Shoham Arad:请站到这边。 好的。 我想问你一些问题, 他们需要时间来清理一下演讲台。 我觉得这太令人惊叹了, 很新颖的点子, 不过听起来很诡异,有点吓人。 你可不可以告诉我们, 我想现在房间里 充斥着一些不安的气氛, 告诉我们,这个装置 会读取你的想法吗? 它在五年的发展后, 会读取你的想法吗? 会有一个武器化版本吗, 如果有会是什么样的?
AK: So our first design principle, before we started working on this, was to not render ethics as an afterthought. So we wanted to bake ethics right into the design. We flipped the design. Instead of reading from the brain directly, we're reading from the voluntary nervous system that you deliberately have to engage to communicate with the device, while still bringing the benefits of a thinking or a thought device. The best of both worlds in a way.
AK:在我们开始动手之前, 第一个设计原则 就是把伦理放在第一位。 所以我们把伦理融入了设计里。 我们进行了逆向设计, 我们的设计是从语言神经系统读取, 而不是直接从大脑读取, 这样一来你就必须有意的 与装置进行交流, 同时仍然可以保留一个思维装置的优点。 这是一个对两个世界都好的方法。
SA: OK, I think people are going to have a lot more questions for you. Also, you said that it's a sticker. So right now it sits just right here? Is that the final iteration, what the final design you hope looks like?
SA:好的,我想大家都会 有很多问题想问你。 你说它像个贴纸。 所以就贴在这儿是吗? 这是最终的版本吗, 你希望最终版是什么样的?
AK: Our goal is for the technology to disappear completely.
AK:我们的目标是 让这个技术可以隐形。
SA: What does that mean?
SA:这是什么意思?
AK: If you're wearing it, I shouldn't be able to see it. You don't want technology on your face, you want it in the background, to augment you in the background. So we have a sticker version that conforms to the skin, that looks like the skin, but we're trying to make an even smaller version that would sit right here.
AK:当你把它戴上的时候, 我不应该看到它。 你并不想让这个技术在你脸上, 你是想让它在后台, 在看不见的地方强化你的能力。 我们有一个贴纸的版本, 与皮肤颜色相似, 看起来就像是皮肤, 但是我们正在尝试做一个更小的版本, 贴在这个地方。
SA: OK. I feel like if anyone has any questions they want to ask Arnav, he'll be here all week. OK, thank you so much, Arnav.
SA:好的。 如果任何人有任何问题想问阿纳, 他一整周都会在这里。 好的,谢谢你,阿纳。
AK: Thanks, Shoham.
谢谢。