麦肯锡公司一位高管表示，人工智能是缓解美国债务负担的最佳希望。麦肯锡北美地区高级合伙人兼主席埃里克·库奇周三表示，这项技术能够提升国家生产力，并帮助将美国GDP增长推近4%。根据政府最新估算，第二季度实际GDP按年率计算增长了2.2%。“那将是解决难题的灵丹妙药，”他在纽约举行的公司媒体日活动中对记者说道。
A top McKinsey & Company executive said AI offers the best hope for easing the US debt burden. Eric Kutcher, a senior partner and chair of McKinsey North America, said Wednesday that the technology could lift the nation's productivity and help push US GDP growth closer to 4%. Real GDP grew at a 2.2% annualized pace in the second quarter, according to the latest government estimate. "That would be the magic bullet," he told reporters at the firm's media day in New York.
库奇是在回答关于人工智能能为公司或客户解决什么问题这一问题时发表上述言论的。他表示，国家债务是让他夜不能寐的主要问题。库奇指出，如果没有人工智能可能带来的生产力提升，他看不到其他解决国家债务的办法，而美国债务已超过40万亿美元。投资者对国家债务不断上升的担忧已推动国债收益率走高，使得债务融资成本更加高昂。
Kutcher made the statement in response to a question about what he hopes AI could solve for the firm or its clients. He said the country's debt is the chief issue that keeps him up at night. Without the productivity gains AI could bring, Kutcher said, he sees no other way to tackle the national debt, which has topped $40 trillion. Investors' concerns about the country's rising debt have helped push Treasury yields higher, making the debt more expensive to finance.
库奇并非最近唯一对国家债务问题发出警告的知名人士。亿万富翁投资者雷·达里奥周二警告称，他预计“未来三年内”将发生债务危机。桥水基金创始人达里奥在接受彭博电视台采访时表示，国家债务的规模及其增长速度意味着美国正在“接近我们的极限”。基础设施可能阻碍库奇所期望的人工智能带来的效益，而这些效益本有助于缓解债务负担。
Kutcher isn't the only prominent voice to recently sound the alarm about the nation's debt. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio warned Tuesday that he expects a debt crisis "within the next three years." Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, told Bloomberg Television that the size of the national debt and the speed at which it is growing mean the US is "approaching our limits." Infrastructure could stand in the way of the AI gains that Kutcher hopes could help ease the debt burden.
他表示，除非美国扩大电力供应，否则能源限制可能会将数据中心的容量削减25%至30%。“这并不是一个容易解决的问题，”他说。库奇还谈到了公司的招聘情况。他表示，麦肯锡预计将在北美地区继续增加顾问人数。他指出，公司的咨询团队规模可能会与去年大致保持相同的增长速度——约12%，其中85%至90%的招聘仍将来自校园。
He said energy constraints could curb data-center capacity by 25% to 30% unless the country expands power supplies. "That's not a simple problem to solve," he said. Kutcher also spoke about hiring at the firm. He said that McKinsey expects to keep adding consultants in North America. He said the firm's consulting staff could grow at roughly the same pace as last year — about 12% — with 85% to 90% of hires continuing to come from campuses.
“实际上，我对这个机会能为我们的行业带来什么，抱有极其乐观的态度，部分原因在于，这是这一代人将有机会引领的最具变革性的时刻，”他说。“我认为这是一项50年才出现一次的技术，而且这并非什么新鲜事。我们所有人都正在见证并体验着它。”
"I am actually incredibly bullish about what this opportunity is for our profession, in part because this is the most transformative moment that this generation will get to lead through," he said. "I think this is a once in every 50-year technology, and this is not new news. We're all seeing it, and experiencing it."