Unit 2 Period One Reading and Thinking—Comprehending-2022-2023学年高二新教材英语选择性必修第一册【步步高】学习笔记（人教版）京鲁琼辽粤渝鄂闽冀吉

类文赏读　话题导入 Artificial Intelligence：A REAL THREAT? In the words of Professor Stephen Hawking，artificial intelligence will be “either the best，or the worst thing，ever to happen to humanity1”. Technology of Tomorrow Forum wants to hear your thoughts on AI. Is it our greatest human achievement so far? Or is it the biggest threat to our existence? Millenniumbutterfly Thanks to AI，I’ve got my own super­smart personal assistant built into my phone. She always has an immediate answer for any question I put to her，and even uses my answers to learn more about my preferences. It used to feel like 50 per cent of my time was spent researching new restaurants. In contrast，my PA only needs a few seconds to find the right place.Every recommendation2 she gives me is great since she can predict if I will like a particular restaurant. And speaking of hanging out3，I’m hoping that self­driving cars are available soon. I’ve been taking driving lessons for over a year，and still haven’t got my licence. Self­driving cars can learn to drive in the same way that we do，and can make judgements based on information.And as they won’t be susceptible4 to human error，they’ll certainly be a lot safer.The only thing is that there might be a few machine­learning problems when the first cars hit the market，so perhaps I’d better learn to drive first. Still，I do think that developments in AI will on the whole make doing day­to­day things a lot easier. Popkid The technology you’re using and enjoying today is a basic form of AI which can’t think independently without programming. Of course，it could be very useful to have a more advanced form of AI—a truly independent form of artificial intelligence，capable5 of exercising its own judgement，could help us solve many of the world’s problems. But have you ever thought about the risks？After all，why would an independent form of AI need to consider the opinions and desires of humans? We could be seen as a “small” inconvenience that’s in the way of a solution to a