It already uses AI techniques to identify people in photos, for example, and to decide which status updates and ads to show to each user. Facebook is also pushing into AI-powered digital assistants and chatbot programs which interact with users via short messages. Next week it is expected to open up its Messenger service (which can already be used to do things like order an Uber car), to broaden the range of chatbots. And Facebook's investment in VR—it bought Oculus, the cheerleader of this emerging field, for $2 billion in 2014—is a bold guess about where computing and communication will go after the smartphone.
例如，它已經(jīng)利用人工智能技術(shù)來辨識照片中的人像，也用這一技術(shù)確定向每個用戶展示什么樣的狀態(tài)更新和廣告。Facebook還在推動由人工智能支持的數(shù)字助手和聊天機器人程序，它們通過簡短的信息與用戶互動。下周它計劃開放Messenger服務（它已經(jīng)可以用來做一些事情，例如從優(yōu)步叫車），并且拓寬聊天機器人的適用范圍。Facebook在虛擬現(xiàn)實上的投資是對計算和通信在智能手機之后將何去何從的大膽預測，它于2014年以20億美元收購了這一新興領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)頭羊Oculus。
But Facebook faces rivals in all these areas. Google is using AI techniques to improve its internet services and guide self-driving cars, and other industry giants are also investing heavily in AI—though with the deepest pockets and the most data to crunch, Facebook and Google can attract the best researchers and most promising startups. Facebook lags behind Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft when it comes to voice-driven personal assistants; when it comes to chatbots, it faces competition from Microsoft and a host of startups eager to prove that bots are the new apps. And its push into VR—which Mr Zuckerberg sees as a stepping stone to “augmented reality” (AR), where information is superimposed on the real world—pits it against formidable rivals, too. Microsoft has jumped straight to AR with its HoloLens headset, its most impressive product in years, and Google, already active in VR, has invested in Magic Leap, a little-known AR startup.
但是在所有這些領(lǐng)域Facebook都有對手。谷歌正利用人工智能技術(shù)提升其互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務、指引無人駕駛汽車，其他業(yè)界巨頭也不惜重金投資人工智能，不過Facebook和谷歌錢袋最鼓、有最多數(shù)據(jù)可供分析，因此能吸引到最優(yōu)秀的研究人員和最具潛力的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。在由語音控制的個人助理領(lǐng)域，F(xiàn)acebook落后于亞馬遜、蘋果、谷歌和微軟；而在聊天機器人領(lǐng)域，它的對手是微軟以及諸多急于證明機器人是新應用的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。虛擬現(xiàn)實領(lǐng)域被扎克伯格視作“增強現(xiàn)實”（AR）的踏腳石，AR即信息被疊加在真實世界上的技術(shù)。進軍這一領(lǐng)域也讓Facebook和強敵正面交鋒。微軟憑借其多年來最引人矚目的產(chǎn)品HoloLens頭盔直接挺進AR，而在VR領(lǐng)域已十分活躍的谷歌已經(jīng)投資了Magic Leap，一家鮮為人知的AR創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。
The scale of Facebook's ambition, and the rivalries it faces, reflect a consensus that these technologies will transform how people interact with each other, with data and with their surroundings. AI will help devices and services anticipate your needs (Google's Inbox app already suggests replies to your e-mails).
Facebook的雄心壯志及其面臨的競爭反映出一個共識，即這些技術(shù)將轉(zhuǎn)變?nèi)伺c人之間、人與數(shù)據(jù)之間、人與周圍環(huán)境之間的互動方式。人工智能會幫助設(shè)備和服務預測你的需求（谷歌的Inbox應用已經(jīng)能對如何回復電子郵件提出建議）。
Conversational interfaces will let you look things up and get things done by chatting to a machine by voice or text. And intelligent services will spread into a plethora of products, such as wearable devices, cars and VR/AR goggles. In a decade's time computing seems likely to take the form of AR interfaces mediated by AI, using gestures and speech for inputs and the whole world as its display. Information will be painted onto the world around you, making possible new forms of communication, creativity and collaboration.
會話接口能讓你通過語音或文字與機器對話來查閱信息和完成任務。智能服務將擴展到太多產(chǎn)品中，如可穿戴設(shè)備、汽車和VR/AR眼鏡等。十年之內(nèi)，計算看似有可能采取增強現(xiàn)實界面，以人工智能為媒介，用手勢和語音進行輸入，將整個世界作為它的顯示器。信息將被疊映在你周圍的世界之上，讓新形式的交流、創(chuàng)造與合作成為可能。
This is the ambitious vision that Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other technology giants are working towards. But along the way there are certain to be privacy and security concerns. Crunching all that information to provide personalised services looks a lot like surveillance, and will cause a backlash if consumers do not feel they are getting a good deal in return for handing over their personal details (as the advertising industry is discovering to its cost)—or if security is inadequate.
這是Facebook、谷歌、微軟及其他科技巨頭為之努力奮斗的恢弘愿景。但沿途必定會有隱私和安全問題。分析所有信息以提供個性化的服務看起來很像監(jiān)控，并且如果消費者感覺在提交個人詳細資料后并沒有獲得大量回報（廣告業(yè)吃過苦頭后正在明白這一點），又或者安全性不足，會引發(fā)激烈反對。
There will also be worries about concentration and monopoly, and the danger of closed ecosystems that make it hard for people to switch between services. Facebook's plan to offer free access to a limited subset of websites was blocked by India's telecoms regulator, which argued that it was “risky” to allow one company to act as a gatekeeper. And Germany's competition authority is investigating the way Facebook handles personal data. As its dominance grows, Facebook can expect to face more such cases, as Microsoft and Google did before it.
也有人會擔心集中、壟斷以及封閉式生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的危險，讓人很難在各種服務之間切換。Facebook提供免費接入一些指定網(wǎng)站的計劃被印度電信監(jiān)管部門阻攔，它們認為讓一家公司來把關(guān)“太過危險”。德國的競爭主管機構(gòu)正在調(diào)查Facebook處理個人信息的方式。隨著其統(tǒng)治地位的不斷加強，可以預見Facebook會遭遇更多此類情況，正如微軟和谷歌所經(jīng)歷的那樣。
Striking a balance between becoming ever more intimately entwined in billions of peoples' lives, making huge profits as a result and avoiding a backlash will be one of the biggest business challenges of the century. Even in ancient Rome, emperors could find that the crowd suddenly turned against them. So applaud Mr Zuckerberg—and fear for him, too.
既能和數(shù)十億人的生活更緊密地交織在一起，又可借此獲得巨額利潤并且避免強烈反對，如何在其間取得平衡將成為本世紀最大的商業(yè)挑戰(zhàn)之一。即便是在古羅馬，帝王們也會發(fā)現(xiàn)民眾會突然轉(zhuǎn)而反抗他們。所以為扎克伯格鼓掌，也為他擔憂吧。
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