28.Open Chaos(683)

Passage Twenty-Eight

Open Chaos

公开的混乱

【1】Five year weird days passed before it seemed that Sam Altman would stay at OpenAI after all. On November 17th the board of the maker of ChatGPT suddenly booted out its chief executive. On the 19th it looked as if Mr Altman would move to Microsoft, OpenAI's largest investor.

距离山姆·奥特曼最终决定留在OpenAI公司已过去了5天，期间相当诡异。11月17日，ChatGPT开发公司的董事会突然解雇了其首席执行官。19日，奥特曼先生似乎有意加入OpenAI最大的投资商微软公司。

【2】But employees at the startup rose up in revolt(resist), with almost all of them, including one of the board's original conspirators, threatening to leave were Mr Altman not reinstated. Between frantic(hurried) meetings, the top brass tweeted heart emojis and fond messages to each other. By the 21st, things had come full circle .

OpenAI公司的员工们纷纷奋起反抗，几乎所有员工，包括董事会中一位最初的共谋者，都威胁称如果奥特曼先生不能复职，那么他们就会辞职。在匆忙的会议间歇，公司高层互相在推特上发送心形表情符号和亲切话语。到21日，事情兜了一圈又回到原点。

【3】All this seems stranger still considering that these shenanigans(tricks) were taking place at the world's hottest(popular) startup, which had been expected to reach a valuation of nearly $90bn.

OpenAI可谓是当今世界最炙手可热的初创公司，估值近900亿美元。这些诡计发生在这样一个公司身上，这一切就显得更加诡异。

【4】In part, the weirdness is a sign of just how quickly the relatively young technology of generative artificial intelligence has been catapulted to glory. But it also holds deeper and more disturbing(discomforting) lessons.

某种程度上，这一奇特现象表明，生成式人工智能技术虽年轻，但实现了迅速发展，得以登峰造极。但这背后也有更深刻、更令人不安的教训。

【5】One is the sheer power of AI talent. As the employees threatened to quit, the message “OpenAI is nothing without its people” rang out on social media.Ever since ChatGPT's launch a year ago, demand(need) for AI brains has been white-hot. As chaos reigned, both Microsoft and other tech firms stood ready to welcome disgruntled staff with open arms.That gave both Mr Altman and OpenAI's programmers huge bargaining power and fatally undermined the board's attempts(endeavors) to exert(apply) control.

首先就是人工智能人才的庞大力量。当员工们威胁辞职时，类似“OpenAI失去了员工便一无是处”的讯息在社媒上广为流传。自一年前ChatGPT发布以来，市场对人工智能人才的需求就处于白热化阶段。随着混乱占据主流，微软与其他科技公司都愿意欢迎对OpenAI公司不满的员工。这给予了奥特曼先生与OpenAI公司的程序员巨大的周旋空间，完全削弱了董事会对施加掌控作出的努力。

【6】The episode also shines a light on the unusual structure(construction) of OpenAI. It was founded in 2015 as a non-profit research lab aimed at safely developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), which can equal or surpass(exceed) humans in all types of thinking. But it soon became clear that this would require vast amounts of expensive processing power, if it were possible at all.  

该事件同时揭示了OpenAI公司不同寻常的治理结构。OpenAI成立于2015年，最初是一家非营利性研究实验室，旨在安全开发通用人工智能（AGI），也就是一种能够在各思维领域匹敌或超越人脑的人工智能。但很快公司发现，达成该目标需要大量昂贵的信息处理能力。

【7】To pay for it, a profit-making subsidiary was set up to sell AI tools, such as ChatGPT. And Microsoft invested $13bn in return for a 49% stake. On paper, the power remained with the non-profit's board, whose aim is to ensure that AGI benefits everyone, and whose responsibility is accordingly not to shareholders but to “humanity”.

为了筹措资金，公司成立了营利性子公司，售卖类似ChatGPT的人工智能工具。微软也向OpenAI投资了130亿美元，换取49%的股份。理论上来说，权力掌握在这家非营利组织的董事会手中，而董事会的目的是确保通用人工智能可以惠及大众。因此，董事会对“人类”负责，而非对股东负责。

【8】That illusion(fantasy) was shattered(burst) as the employees demanded Mr Altman's return, and as the prospect loomed of a rival firm housed within profit-maximising Microsoft. The chief lesson is the folly of solely relying on corporate structures to police technology. As the potential of generative AI became clear, the contradictions in OpenAI's structure were exposed.

然而，公司员工要求奥特曼先生回归，微软内部追求利益最大化的竞争公司不断逼近，这种幻想随而破灭。最主要的教训是，单纯依靠公司治理结构来管控技术是行不通的。随着生成式人工智能的潜力逐渐明朗，OpenAI公司结构中的矛盾点也愈发凸显。

【9】A single outfit(team) cannot strike the best balance between advancing AI, attracting talent and investment, assessing(evaluating) AI's threats and keeping humanity safe. Conflicts of interest in Silicon Valley are hardly rare. Even if the people at OpenAI were as brilliant as they think they are, the task would be beyond them.

单一的团队无法在推动人工智能、吸纳人才和投资、评估人工智能威胁与维系人类安全上达成最佳平衡。硅谷中的利益冲突并不罕见。即使OpenAI公司里的人和他们自认为的一样精明能干，但面对这些任务他们也无能为力。

【10】Much about the board's motives in sacking Mr Altman remains unknown. Even if the directors did genuinely(truly) have humanity's interest at heart, they risked seeing investors and employees flock to another firm that would charge ahead with the technology regardless.

董事会开除奥特曼先生的大部分动因还不清楚。即便各董事确实心系人类利益，他们也冒着把投资者和员工推向另一家不顾一切推进该技术的公司的风险。

【11】Nor is it entirely clear what qualifies a handful(minority) of private citizens to represent the interests of Earth's remaining 7.9bn inhabitants. As part of Mr Altman's return, a new board is being appointed. It will include Larry Summers, a prominent(outstanding) economist; an executive from Microsoft will probably join him, as may Mr Altman.

一小撮人到底如何能代表全球其他79亿居民的利益，亦不完全明朗。奥特曼的重返会迎来一个新的董事会。其中包括杰出的经济学家劳利·萨摩斯。微软一位高管或许也将加入，同奥特曼先生一道。

【12】Board senseless.Yet personnel changes are not enough: the firm's structure should also be overhauled. Fortunately, in America there is a body that has a much more convincing claim to represent the common interest: the government.

董事会并不明智，然而，仅凭人事变革并不足够：公司的治理结构亦需彻底改革。幸运的是，美国有这么一个机构在代表公共利益方面更具公信力，即政府。

【13】By drafting(formulating) regulation, it can set the boundaries within which companies like OpenAI must operate. And, as a flurry of activity in the past month shows, politicians are watching AI. That is just as well. The technology is too important to be left to the whims of corporate plotters.

通过制定法规，政府能为OpenAI等公司的运行限定范围。并且，正如过去几个月各类活动表明，政客们正注视着人工智能。这也不错。人工智能技术太过重要，不能被企业阴谋家的心血来潮所左右。