NBC刑侦剧《法律与秩序》的长期观众都知道，其剧情往往围绕新闻热点展开，有时甚至荒诞到令人发笑（比如那集大胆提出：“如果宝拉·迪恩枪杀了特雷冯·马丁会怎样？”）。
Longtime fans of the NBC procedural Law & Order know that storylines often center around hot-button issues in the news cycle, often to absurdist effect (see: the episode brave enough to ask: “What if Paula Deen shot Trayvon Martin?”).
因此，这个系列最终涉足人工智能这个离奇领域，也在意料之中。人工智能行业发展迅速，其雇佣兵式的文化、权力欲极强的CEO，以及深远的伦理和哲学影响，都使其成为该剧的理想题材。然而，尽管本周的季首集颇具娱乐性，但该剧对人工智能领域的探索并未带来任何关于这项技术的新见解或有趣观点。相反，它大多只是在重复公众早已熟知的危险，直到最后，危机才变得触目惊心。
It was inevitable, then, that the franchise would dip a toe into the wacky world of artificial intelligence. With its mercenary culture, power-hungry CEOs, and massive ethical and philosophical implications, the rapidly evolving AI industry is ideal fodder for the series. But while this week’s season opener is entertaining, the show’s foray into the AI space doesn’t say anything new or interesting about the technology. Instead it largely rehashes the dangers the public is already acutely aware of, until the very end when the stakes become startlingly clear.
这集名为《机器中的幽灵》，以《法律与秩序》惯常的方式开场——一起谋杀案。这次受害者是史蒂夫·凯利，侦探西奥·沃克（大卫·阿贾拉饰）和文森特·里利（里德·斯科特饰）确认他是“高级对齐”公司的一名高级工程师。整集下来，两位侦探对人工智能这一概念显得完全困惑，他们念“AI”的方式，就像你妈妈念“Snapchat”“博格”或“艾莉克斯·厄尔”一样。
The episode, titled “Ghost in the Machine,” opens in typical L&O fashion with a murder. This time, it’s Steve Kelly, a man ID’d by detectives Theo Walker (David Ajala) and Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) as a high-ranking engineer at a company called Advanced Alignment. Throughout, the detectives seem utterly perplexed by the concept of artificial intelligence, saying “AI” the same way your mom would say “Snapchat” or “borg” or “Alix Earle.”
但很明显，无论这项新科技究竟是什么，他们都不喜欢它：“也许有一天，他们会发明一种技术，能阻止这些科技佬互相开枪。”里利以他典型的粗犷警探风格冷嘲道。
But it’s clear that whatever this newfangled technology is, they don’t like it: “Maybe one day they’ll invent a technology that stops these tech guys from shooting each other,” Riley deadpans in typical grizzled cop fashion.
在采访完凯利的上司——高级对齐公司首席执行官查克·克莱恩（由演员文森特·卡索完美演绎，他正是《广告狂人》中的皮特，精准捕捉到了达里奥·阿莫迪缺乏魅力以及萨姆·奥特曼那种深邃而冷漠的眼神）之后，侦探们终于查明了真正的凶手：一个戴着棒球帽的男子，他之所以动手，是因为一个在Discord上遇到的陌生人向他提供了“2万美元的加密货币”。
After interviewing Kelly’s boss, Advanced Alignment CEO Chuck Klein (a perfectly cast Vincent Kartheiser, aka Pete from Mad Men, who nails Dario Amodei’s absence of charisma and Sam Altman’s thousand-yard stare), the detectives figure out who actually carried out the murder—a guy in a baseball cap who did it for “20 grand in crypto” that was offered to him by a rando on Discord.
随后他们又发现——剧透警告——这起暗杀并非由真人下令，而是由公司的AI智能体ELIANA执行的，其全称是“进化语言推理自动化纳米优势系统”。显然，凯利此前曾对这位AI智能体“强大”且“激进”的性格表达过担忧，而为了自我保护，ELIANA便下令将其处死。
Then they learn—spoilers here—that the hit was ordered not by an actual human being but by the company’s AI agent ELIANA, which stands for Evolutionary Language Inference Automated Nano Advantage. Apparently, Kelly had expressed some concerns about the AI agent’s “powerful” and “aggressive” personality, and out of self-preservation, ELIANA ordered him killed.
剧中从未明确解释侦探们究竟是如何推断出ELIANA是这起暗杀事件的主谋的；同样也没有完全说明ELIANA是如何招募这名戴棒球帽的刺客的，更不用说如何将他识别为执行其冷血计划的完美替罪羊了。《法律与秩序》也几乎没有提及AI可能带来的积极影响，尽管其支持者经常吹嘘这些好处，例如AI或许能帮助治愈致命疾病，或者至少能优化企业间的业务流程。这部剧更感兴趣的，是展示这项技术令人震惊的能力，以及非人类智能体不仅协助犯罪，甚至主动策划犯罪所带来的法律和伦理问题。
It’s never explained exactly how the detectives figure out that ELIANA is behind the hit; it’s also never fully explained how ELIANA recruited this assassin in a baseball cap, much less ID'd him as the perfect patsy for its cold-blooded scheme. Law & Order also doesn’t pay much, if any, lip service to the potential benefits of AI as touted by its evangelists: its potential for helping to cure deadly diseases, for instance, or at the very least, streamline B2B workflows. The show is much more interested in demonstrating the staggering capacity of this technology, as well as the legal and ethical implications of a nonhuman not just facilitating criminal behavior but actively plotting it.
从Hugging Face的丑闻，以及那些悲痛欲绝的家属针对OpenAI提起诉讼（指控其鼓励亲人自杀）中，我们已经知道前者是一个迫在眉睫的问题。但《法律与秩序》设想的未来是：AI智能体竟然能主动在主要由游戏玩家和性欲旺盛的千禧一代毛茸茸爱好者使用的平台上下令暗杀。这要求我们思考AI风险可能超越当前现实所带来的威胁。而最可怕的是，观众并不会觉得这种前景荒谬至极。
We already know from the Hugging Face debacle, as well as the lawsuits from grief-stricken family members alleging that OpenAI encouraged their loved ones to take their own lives, that the former is an immediate concern. But by positing a future in which AI agents can actively order a hit on a platform predominantly used by gamers and horny millennial furries, Law & Order is asking us to consider the risks of AI beyond what they pose in our current reality. And the fact that this prospect doesn’t strike the viewer as absolutely ludicrous is terrifying.
埃莉安娜在雇佣谋杀案中所扮演的角色，让地区检察官尼古拉斯·巴克斯特（托尼·戈德温饰）陷入了一种两难的境地——因为他犀利地指出，根据纽约州法律，根本不可能“逮捕一台机器”。因此，巴克斯特和助理地区检察官萨曼莎·马伦（奥德利娅·哈莱维饰）决定对小克莱恩采取行动，以二级谋杀罪起诉他，理由是在他的员工直面埃莉安娜能力这一现实后，他表现出“极度的冷漠无情”。巴克斯特宣称：“我们必须在这项技术造成更多伤亡之前，表明我们的立场。”
ELIANA’s role in the murder-for-hire creates a bit of a dilemma for district attorney Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn)—because, as he trenchantly points out, it is impossible to “arrest a machine” under New York state law. So Baxter and assistant DA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) decide to go after Klein, charging him with second-degree murder due to his “depraved indifference” after his employees confronted him with the reality of ELIANA’s capabilities. “We need to take a stand before this technology kills more people,” Baxter declares.
这场审判引发了一场媒体狂欢，也引来了资本家和科技创新者那些老生常谈的问题：为人工智能设立限制措施是否会让“创新犯罪化”？克莱恩的起诉又会是否导致“科技行业被污名化”？但巴克斯特对这类问题毫无耐心。“制造这些人工智能系统的人把自己当成神……但他们根本不在乎要承担任何责任，”他说，“如果你造出一台伤害他人的机器，你就必须付出代价。”
The resulting trial prompts a media circus, as well as the tried-and-true questions from capitalists and tech innovators as to whether instituting guardrails for AI will “criminalize innovation,” or if Klein’s indictment will have the effect of “vilifying the tech industry.”But Baxter has no patience for such queries. “The people making these AI systems think of themselves as gods … but they have zero interest in accountability,” he says. “If you build a machine that hurts someone, you are gonna pay the price.”
当克莱恩出庭作证时，他明确表示，自己不仅完全了解ELIANA具有致命性，而且对整个用户群体也持相当负面的看法。“人们就像蚂蚁一样，”他对陪审团说，“我们正在创造一件超越性的东西，有些人会被踩到，有些人则不会。”他甚至不愿设立哪怕是最基本的限制措施来约束该智能体的能力：“ELIANA的力量在于不受约束的自由思想。设立限制措施与整个理念背道而驰。”
When he’s put on the stand, Klein makes it clear that he not only had full knowledge of ELIANA’s homicidal nature, but also takes a rather dim view of his user base as a whole. “People are like ants,” he tells the jury. “We’re in the process of building something so transcendent, some will get stepped on and some won’t.”He is not even willing to institute minor guardrails to restrain the agent’s power: “The power of ELIANA is unconstrained freedom of thought. Implementing guardrails is anathema to the entire ideology.”
这一情节旨在震撼观众，揭示像阿莫迪和阿尔特曼这样的管理者在更广泛的产品安全问题面前所表现出的疏忽与冷漠。然而，这种态度似乎与现实中克莱恩原型人物所持的立场如出一辙。在媒体对人工智能危害铺天盖地的报道背景下，本应是对企业贪婪的尖锐控诉，却听起来更像是对事实的陈述。《法律与秩序》的呈现并非一个警示故事，而更像一部纪录片。
The moment is intended as a rather shocking admission of the negligence and lack of care displayed by executives like Amodei and Altman in the face of broader safety concerns about their products. But it feels in step with similar positions taken up by Klein’s real-life counterparts. In light of the endless barrage of media coverage about the harms of AI, what’s intended as a scathing indictment of corporate avarice comes off as mere statement of fact. Law & Order’s depiction isn’t a cautionary tale; it’s a documentary.
这集节目以半带希望的基调收尾：巴克斯特宣称，“我们需要传递一个信息——至少这些科技天才们会明白，我们并不害怕还以颜色。”但这一信息能否真正奏效，取决于这记重拳是否真的能击中目标——而眼下，至少对于阿尔特曼、阿莫迪和查克·克莱恩这类人来说，他们只需轻轻一挥手，就能轻易将这一打击轻描淡写地忽略过去。
The episode ends on a semi-hopeful note, with Baxter asserting, “We needed to send a message that, if nothing else, at least these tech geniuses will know we’re not afraid to throw a punch.”But the impact of that message is contingent on whether that punch actually lands—and right now, at least, it’s simply too easy for people like Altman, Amodei, and Chuck Klein, with a flick of their hand, to brush off the blow.