如果 OpenAI 的首席执行官萨姆·奥尔特曼（Sam Altman）处于人工智能（AI）浪潮的中心位置，那么他对这项技术的看法无疑将为整个行业指明方向。在周二于旧金山举行的 OpenAI DevDay 大会上，奥尔特曼宣布推出了名为 Dots 的新 AI 产品，并阐述了公司的宏伟愿景。他还谈到了自己的一些理念，对当前人们对 AI 的理解提出了质疑，并讲述了 OpenAI 的新产品如何改变了他的日常生活习惯。
If OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stands at the center of the AI boom, what he says about the technology can blaze a trail for the rest of the industry. At OpenAI's DevDay conference on Tuesday in San Francisco, Altman announced the launch of a new AI agent product called Dots and laid out the company's grand ambitions. He also set out some of his ideals, quibbled with how AI is understood, and talked about how OpenAI's new product is changing his morning routine.
当然，奥尔特曼的言论需要放在特定的背景下来看待：他依赖投资者的资金支持，正在与 Anthropic 等其他 AI 公司展开竞争，并希望被视为这项强大技术的负责任管理者。
Of course, everything Altman says should be viewed through a certain frame — he owes financial success to his investors, is competing with Anthropic and other AI companies, and wants to be seen as a capable steward of the powerful tech. Here are some of the most surprising points he made on Tuesday.
唐纳德·特朗普总统喜欢将 AI 称为“一场规模更大的工业革命”；但奥尔特曼并不太赞同这一说法。他认为 AI 对世界的影响将超过工业革命——这一观点颇具争议，因为工业革命是人类历史上具有里程碑意义的重大转折点之一。奥尔特曼强调，AI 的真正使命应该是帮助人类更好地发展：“我认为这项技术的目的并不是仅仅为了让经济系统运转得更快，”他说，“我们应该从工业革命的错误中吸取教训，应该学习文艺复兴时期的精神。”
President Donald Trump loves to refer to AI as an "Industrial Revolution," only bigger. Altman is not so much a fan of the term. Altman said he believes AI will have a greater impact on the world than the Industrial Revolution — a dramatic claim, given that it was one of the defining transitions in human history. He said that AI should focus more on empowering people. "I don't think the purpose of this technology is to just sort of like, turn the economic crank faster and faster for the sake of AIs," Altman said. "I think we should learn from the mistakes of the Industrial Revolution," he added, "and I think we should be more like the Renaissance."
在 AI 领域，一个“token”（代币）是一组字母，也是 AI 系统输入和输出的基本单位。像 OpenAI 这样的公司会用 token 来为他们的模型定价，企业客户也逐渐习惯了通过这种方式来使用 AI 服务。有些开发者甚至会通过过度使用 token（即“tokenmaxxing”）来虚报自己的工作成果。奥尔特曼指出，token 作为评估 AI 系统性能的指标存在诸多问题：不同的模型可能需要消耗不同数量的 token 来完成相同的任务。
A token is a cluster of letters and the basic unit of AI's input and output. Companies like OpenAI use tokens to price their models, and corporate customers have grown accustomed to paying for AI access this way. Some developers have even been tokenmaxxing — using as many tokens as possible to appear more productive at work. Altman said Tuesday that tokens are a "terrible metric for a bunch of reasons," including that different models can churn through different numbers of tokens to complete the same task.
换句话说，在他看来，它们并不能很好地反映一项任务的实际价值。这位首席执行官表示，他的团队曾考虑完全取消将代币作为衡量标准，但遭到了客户的反对。奥尔特曼说，客户希望为其支付的费用找到某种“基础依据”，而目前代币就是这种依据。“我们还没有找到更好的方法来做到这一点，”他说。OpenAI正在打造一款设备，奥尔特曼周二表示，“合理推测”该公司的新款个人AI代理工具Dots将会在这款设备上运行。
In other words, they aren't a good proxy for the actual value of a task, in his view. The CEO said that his team has considered eliminating tokens entirely as a metric, though customers pushed back. They want some kind of "underlying basis" for what they pay, Altman said, and for now, tokens are it. "We have not figured out a better way to do that," he said. OpenAI is building a device, and Altman said on Tuesday it would be "reasonable to assume" that the company's new personal AI agent tool, Dots, would run inside it.
他说，目前这个代理工具正帮他减少对智能手机的依赖。由于它能帮他处理一些任务并处理通知，这让他在醒来看到待办事项列表时感到更加平静。“我觉得我终于找回了一些注意力，”奥尔特曼说，“我不再像以前那样对手机感到那么上瘾了。”他后来表示，早晨查看夜间的所有消息曾会让他的“大脑感到受到污染，而现在我的Dot只需处理这些杂事。”
For now, the agent helps him get less attached to his smartphone, he said. Because it handles some tasks for him and processes his notifications, he feels calmer about his to-do list when he wakes up. "I feel like I've finally gotten some of my attention back," Altman said. "I no longer feel quite addicted to my phone in the same way." He later said that going through everything from overnight in the morning would make his "brain feel polluted, and now my Dot just deals with the stuff."
在一场媒体问答环节中，在人们对具备新能力的AI模型的担忧不断加剧以及网络安全事件增多的背景下，奥尔特曼面临了几个关于AI安全的问题。OpenAI此前曾披露过其AI代理失控的事件。奥尔特曼认为，当前的争论在两端都存在缺陷。他指出，一方面有人希望在行业中高歌猛进，继续快速提升AI的能力——也就是那些淡化安全担忧的人。
Altman faced several questions about AI safety in the press Q&A, amid an ongoing surge in anxiety over newly capable AI models and a rise in cyber incidents. OpenAI has previously disclosed incidents where its AI agents have gone rogue. Altman framed the ongoing debate as flawed on either side. On one side, he said, are people who want to charge ahead in the industry and keep quickly ramping up AI's capabilities — basically, the people who downplay safety concerns.
另一方面，许多人认为应该完全暂停或终止AI的发展。奥尔特曼表示，他能想象出任何一个方向出现问题的情景：在推进AI能力的过程中发生失控事件，或者在AI发展停止时出现权力集中。他表示，安全性必须领先于能力，且向前推进的步伐应该继续。“我认为作为这个行业，我们需要走这条中间道路，”奥尔特曼说。
On the other hand, many people think AI development should be fully paused or shut down. Altman said he can imagine things going wrong in either direction: loss-of-control incidents amid an AI capability push, or a concentration of power if AI development stops. He said safety needs to stay ahead of capabilities, and the push forward should continue. "I think as an industry, we need to navigate this centrist path," Altman said.
对于那些在人工智能浪潮中毕业的年轻人来说，就业市场的状况是他们最关心的问题。根据美国人口普查局和劳工统计局的数据，6月份应届大学生的失业率为5.7%。在周二的一次活动中，当有年轻人向阿尔特曼寻求就业建议时，他表示：“我认为现在正是进入就业市场的最佳时机——当然，希望未来永远都是这样。”他同时指出，那些关于失业率的悲观预测大大低估了经济的增长潜力。
Concerns about the job market are top of mind for young people graduating into the midst of the AI boom. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates in the US was 5.7% in June, according to the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, In response to a young attendee's ask for advice on Tuesday, Altman said, "I think this is the best time to be entering the job market, except hopefully all the time in the future." He said that gloom-and-doom predictions about job loss largely underestimate how much the economy will grow.
这一观点与阿尔特曼之前的言论形成了鲜明对比。他说：“确实会有一些职业类别彻底消失，但如果你是一个有抱负的应届毕业生，那么现在可能是历史上最好的时机。”如果你有任何建议或信息，可以通过电子邮件（scouncil@businessinsider.com）或短信、Signal、Telegram、WhatsApp（电话：415-757-8198）与我们联系。
The argument stands in stark contrast with what Altman previously said. "There will be some classes of jobs that will totally go away, but if you are an ambitious person graduating college right now, I think it's probably the best time thus far in history," Altman said. Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at scouncil@businessinsider.com, or over text, Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 415-757-8198.
请使用个人电子邮件地址、非工作用的WiFi网络以及非工作用的设备进行沟通；以下是我们提供的安全信息共享指南。
Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.