
周日,美国将与其他15个国家联合发布一份声明,阐述各方对“科学黄金时代”的共同愿景,其中将充分发挥人工智能的潜力。该声明预计将在日本京都发布的,发布场合为自2004年起每年举办的“科技与社会论坛”,届时众多专家与政策制定者将齐聚一堂。这份题为《关于科学黄金时代的京都愿景》的声明首先肯定了科学技术对社会的积极贡献,随后呼吁开展融合人工智能的研究。
The United States on Sunday will release a joint statement with 15 other countries describing a shared vision for a “golden age of science” that embraces the potential of artificial intelligence. The announcement is expected in Kyoto, Japan, at this year’s Science and Technology in Society Forum, an annual gathering of experts and policymakers that began in 2004. The statement, titled the “Kyoto Vision for a Golden Age of Science,” begins by recognizing science and technology’s benefits to society then goes on to encourage research that integrates artificial intelligence. (The statement calls it “super intelligence,” given President Donald Trump’s recent executive order renaming the technology.)
由于唐纳德·特朗普总统近期签署行政命令将此类技术重新命名为“超级智能”,声明中也沿用了这一称谓。据NBC新闻获悉的声明内容显示:“超级智能以及全新的科研组织方式正为我们开辟全新的探索领域;我们深知应当抓住这些变革带来的机遇。”白宫科技政策办公室主任迈克尔·克拉齐奥斯主导了这份愿景声明的起草工作。
“Super Intelligence and new ways of organizing research are opening entirely new frontiers of discovery,” reads the statement, which was seen by NBC News. “We recognize the opportunity to take advantage of these changes.”Michael Kratsios, head of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, spearheaded the vision statement, which also says the participating countries welcome the “growing field of metascience,” a term that describes the study of the scientific process itself.
声明还指出,参与国对“元科学”这一新兴领域持欢迎态度,该术语指的是对科学研究过程本身所开展的研究。日本、韩国、英国及阿联酋的科技部长等各国代表均对这份声明表示支持。克拉齐奥斯计划在论坛上发表演讲,相关讲稿已提前提供给NBC新闻。他在讲稿中描绘了这样一幅科学进步时代的图景:由机器人与人工智能系统操控的实验室能够以远超人类的速度设计实验、反复测试并分析结果。
Tech ministers from Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates were among the representatives from other countries that endorsed the statement. In remarks Kratsios plans to deliver at the forum, shared in advance with NBC News, he will outline a vision for an era of scientific progress in which laboratories run by robots and AI systems can design scientific experiments, iterate and analyze results at superhuman speeds.
“将超级智能应用于科学研究,必将极大推动科研的普及化与突破性进展,”他这样写道。近期,人工智能领域的领军企业Anthropic与OpenAI相继推出相关计划,旨在将生物医学实验室与高性能人工智能系统相衔接;事实上,其他多家企业多年来也一直在尝试实现实验室自动化。
“Super intelligence applied to science will be an incredible force for democratization of research and breakthrough developments,” he plans to say. Leading AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI have recently launched initiatives to connect biomedical laboratories to powerful AI systems, while other companies have attempted to automate laboratories for years.
“各地的科研格局都已发生变化,大地在我们脚下不断移动,我们必须重振科研事业,为知识、创新和繁荣奠定新的基础,”预计克拉齐奥斯将在讲话中这样表示。该愿景声明还指出,公众信任是科学创新与进步的基石,并通过“有意设计的多元化资助机制”为科学提供支持具有重要价值。特朗普政府多次试图大幅削减联邦科学研究资金。
“The landscape has changed everywhere, the ground is moving beneath our feet, and we must all reinvigorate our research enterprise and lay new foundations for knowledge, innovation, and prosperity,” Kratsios is expected to say in his remarks. The vision statement also says that public trust is the bedrock of scientific innovation and progress and that there’s value in “a deliberate portfolio of funding mechanisms” for science. The Trump administration has repeatedly attempted to make drastic cuts to federal funding for scientific research.
例如,其2027财年预算提案将把美国国家科学基金会的资助削减约一半。忧思科学家联盟首席执行官格蕾琴·戈德曼称,该政府破坏了许多科学研究工作。她说:“他们对待美国科学技术体系的方式,粉碎了美国人民对政府的信任。”她尤其指出,美国国立卫生研究院的资金遭到削减。戈德曼说:“看看他们采取的这些行动,任何关于加强信任和透明度的承诺都很难让人认真对待。”
Its proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year would, for example, cut funding for the National Science Foundation by about half. Gretchen Goldman, CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the administration had undermined many scientific research efforts. “They’ve shattered the trust of the American people in the way they’ve treated the U.S. science and technology enterprise,” she said, pointing in particular to cuts to the National Institutes of Health. “It’s hard to take seriously any promises of increased trust and transparency when you look at the actions they’ve taken,” Goldman said.
这份声明是克拉齐奥斯推动改革美国科学创新激励机制的一部分。今年7月,他向特朗普提交了一份报告,建议改变联邦政府资助研究的方式。他计划于周四在华盛顿特区主持一场相关峰会,邀请科学界和商界领袖出席。克拉齐奥斯还牵头推进“创世计划”,这是特朗普总统去年发起的一项全国性行动,旨在“开启一个由人工智能加速创新与发现的新时代”。
The statement comes as part of a wider push by Kratsios to reform how the U.S. incentivizes scientific innovation. In July, he submitted a report to Trump recommending changes to the ways the federal government funds research. He plans to host a summit about it in Washington, D.C. on Thursday with scientific and business leaders. Kratsios is also leading the Genesis Mission, a national effort President Trump launched last year to “unleash a new age of AI‑accelerated innovation and discovery.”
即将发布的这份愿景声明特别强调元科学。近年来,这一研究领域受到政府更广泛的关注。
The forthcoming vision statement puts a particular emphasis on metascience, an area of study that has received wider government attention in recent years.
正如非partisan智库进步研究所元科学与研发政策主任珍·古斯泰蒂克所说,声明中对元科学的突出强调表明,国际社会对它的接受程度正在提高。古斯泰蒂克表示:“英国和美国的元科学工作已积蓄动力。看到其他国家也接受这种注重试验和积累证据的理念,令人鼓舞。”9月,美国国家科学基金会宣布将成立元科学办公室,负责评估新的资助方式,并确定哪些资助机制能够带来最佳科研成效。
Its prominence in the statement signals increased international adoption, according to Jenn Gustetic, director of metascience and research and development policy at the nonpartisan think tank Institute for Progress. “Metascience efforts have built momentum in the U.K. and the U.S. and it’s encouraging to see other nations embrace this mindset of experimentation and evidence building,” Gustetic said. In September, the National Science Foundation announced that it would establish an Office of Metascience (OMS), charged with evaluating new approaches to funding and identifying which award mechanisms lead to the best scientific outcomes.
该机构代理主任布赖恩·斯通在信中写道:“通过元科学办公室,国家科学基金会将成为一个学习型、自我改进型机构:尝试新方法,衡量其效果,在方法无效时坦诚承认,并在取得成功时加以推广。”科学与技术社会论坛旨在为各方领袖提供一个交流平台,以讨论如何最大化科学带来的益处,并应对伦理与安全问题。在为期三天的会议上,来自世界各地的科学家和决策者预计将讨论人工智能对教育的影响、专家如何培养公众对科学研究的信任、个性化医疗领域的最新突破等。
“Through the OMS, NSF will become a learning, self-improving institution that tries new approaches, measures their effects, admits candidly when they do not work, and scales them when they succeed,” the agency’s acting director Brian Stone wrote in a letter. The Science and Technology in Society Forum is intended as a venue for leaders to discuss how to maximize the benefits of science and address ethical and safety issues. During the three-day gathering, scientists and policymakers from around the world are expected to discuss how AI is impacting education, how experts can foster trust in scientific research, recent breakthroughs in personalized medicine and more.
该愿景声明预定在特朗普召集美国顶尖科技企业高管前往白宫、就如何监管人工智能并尽量降低相关风险凝聚共识仅数日后发布。这次会议最终促成了《白宫超级智能协议》,提出了一套由四部分组成的自愿方案,鼓励企业独立监督自身安全规程。克拉齐奥斯参加了这场人工智能会议。他说:“如果你认真看待超级智能带来的风险和益处,那么最重要的事情就是提升本国理解和使用超级智能的能力。”他是在上月举行的联合国安理会人工智能会议上发表上述言论的。
The vision statement is set to be released just days after Trump gathered the country’s leading tech executives at the White House to forge consensus on how to regulate and minimize risks from AI. The meeting culminated in the ‘White House Accord on Super Intelligence,” which laid out a four-part voluntary approach for companies to independently oversee their own safety protocols. Kratsios participated in the AI meeting. “If you take the risks and benefits of superintelligence seriously, the most important thing you can do is to develop your country’s ability to understand and use it,” he said at a United Nations Security Council meeting on AI last month.