《麻省理工科技評論》再報道：為何科大訊飛的人工智慧被數億人使用
6月，《麻省理工科技評論》發布的全球最聰明的50大企業，科大訊飛位列全球第六、中國第一。再次引發全球範圍內的關注。
9月，《麻省理工科技評論》再次對科大訊飛進行追蹤報道，深入解讀科大訊飛智能語音及人工智慧技術的應用成果。
以下為MIT TR的英文報道，中文由騰訊科技編輯翻譯，原文略有改動，全文共8172字，閱讀需10分鐘：
【原文標題】
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Why 500 Million People in China Are Talking to This AI
從交通到醫療，科大訊飛的人工智慧被5億人使用
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iFlytek』s voice recognition technology is everywhere in China, and that』s what』s making it smarter every day.
科大訊飛的語音識別技術在中國隨處可見，這也是為什麼這項技術每天都在變得更聰明的原因。
科大訊飛2016年度發布會
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When Gang Xu, a 46-year-old Beijingresident, needs to communicate with his Canadian tenant about rent payments orelectricity bills, he opens an app called iFlytek Input in his smartphone andtaps an icon that looks like a microphone, and then begins talking. Thesoftware turns his Chinese verbal messages into English text messages, andsends them to the Canadian tenant. It also translates the tenant』s English textmessages into Chinese ones, creating a seamless cycle of bilingualconversation.
當46歲的北京市民徐剛（Gang Xu，音）需要與加拿大的租客就租金或電費賬單溝通時，他會打開智能手機上名為「訊飛輸入法」的應用，點擊看起來像是麥克風的圖標，隨後開始說話。這款軟體將他的中文語音消息轉換為英文文本消息，並發送給加拿大的租客。軟體還可以將租客用英文編寫的文本消息轉換為中文文本消息，從而創造出雙語對話的無縫循環。
輸入法功能展示
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In China, over 500 million peopleuseiFlytek Inputto overcome obstacles in communication such as the one Xufaces. Some also use it to send text messages through voice commands whiledriving, or to communicate with a speaker of another Chinese dialect.The appwas developed by iFlytek, a Chinese AI companythat applies deep learning in arange of fields such as speech recognition, natural-language processing,machine translation, and data mining (see 「50 SmartestCompanies 2017」) .
在中國，有超過5億人使用訊飛輸入法來解決類似徐剛的溝通障礙。某些人在開車時使用語音功能去發送簡訊，而另一些人則使用該工具與操其他方言的中國人交流。這款應用由中國的人工智慧公司科大訊飛開發。該公司將深度學習技術應用於語音識別、自然語言處理、機器翻譯和數據挖掘等領域。點此進一步了解輸入法詳情
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Court systemsuse itsvoice-recognition technologyto transcribe lengthy proceedings;business call centers use itsvoice synthesis technologyto generate automatedreplies; and Didi, a popular Chinese ride-hailing app, also usesiFlytek』stechnologyto broadcast orders to drivers.
法庭使用科大訊飛的語音識別技術來聽寫冗長的訴訟程序；商業呼叫中心使用語音合成技術來生成自動回復；而受歡迎的中國打車應用滴滴也使用科大訊飛的技術來向司機廣播訂單。
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But whilesome impressive progress in voice recognition and instant translation hasenabled Xu to talk with his Canadian tenant, language understanding andtranslation for machines remains an incredibly challenging task (see 「AI』sLanguage Problem」).
然而，儘管語音識別和即時翻譯等技術已經取得了長足的進步，讓徐剛可以與他的加拿大租客交流，但讓機器去理解和翻譯語言仍是挑戰巨大的任務。
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Xu recalls amisunderstanding when he tried to ask his tenant when he would get off work tocome sign the lease renewal. But the text message sent by the app was 「Whattime do you go to work today?」 In retrospect, he figures that it was probablybecause of the wording of his question: you』ll work until what time today?「Sometimes, depending on the context, I can』t get my meaning across,」 says Xu,who still depends on it for communication.
徐剛回憶，有一次他問租客，什麼時候下班過來續簽租約，這時軟體發生了理解錯誤。當時，該軟體發送的簡訊是：「你今天什麼時候去上班？」徐剛懷疑，這是由於他的提問方式，因為當時的具體問題是：「你今天要上班到什麼時候？」他表示：「某些時候，取決於具體語境，我無法準確表達自己的意思。」不過，他仍然依靠訊飛輸入法去溝通。
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Xu』s storyhighlights why it』s so important for a company like iFlytek to gather as muchdata from real-world interactions as possible. The app, which is free, has beencollecting that data since it launched in 2010.
徐剛的遭遇也證明，為何對類似科大訊飛這樣的公司來說，儘可能多地從現實世界互動中收集數據如此重要。自2010年發布以來，這款免費軟體一直在收集這些數據。
小拓展
近日，訊飛輸入法海外伺服器正式上線，使語音輸入響應時間、穩定性和安全性有了飛躍性的提升。經過對海外鏈路的精選優化，美國、英國、義大利、日本、韓國、印度、馬來西亞、新加坡、泰國、澳大利亞等國用戶體驗暢快的語音輸入。?
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iFlytek』sdeveloper platform, called iFlytek Open Platform, provides voice-based AItechnologies to over 400,000 developers in various industries such as smarthome and mobile Internet. The company has international ambitions, including a subsidiary in the U.S.and an effort to expand into languages other than Chinese. Meanwhile, thecompany is changing the way many industries such as driving, health care, andeducation interact with their users in China.
科大訊飛的開發者平台，即訊飛開放平台，為智能家居和移動互聯網等多個行業的40餘萬開發者提供了基於語音的人工智慧功能。科大訊飛已經在美國成立了子公司，同時也在拓展除中文以外的其他語言。與此同時，科大訊飛也在改變中國交通、醫療和教育等行業與用戶互動的方式。
訊飛大廈
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In August,iFlytek launched a voice assistant for drivers calledXiaofeiyu (Little FlyingFish). To ensure safe driving, it has no screen and no buttons. Once connectedto the Internet and the driver』s smartphone, it can place calls, play music,look for directions, and search for restaurants through voice commands. Unlikevoice assistants intended for homes, Xiaofeiyu was designed to recognize voicesin a noisy environment.
今年8月，科大訊飛推出了名為「小飛魚」的車載智能語音助手。為了保障安全駕駛，這款產品沒有提供屏幕和按鈕。在連接互聯網和司機的智能手機之後，設備可以通過語音命令打電話、播放音樂、查找路線，以及搜索餐廳。與瞄準家庭用戶的語音助手不同，小飛魚的設計就是為了在嘈雜環境中識別語音。
「小飛魚」車載智能語音助手
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Min Chu, thevice president of AISpeech, another Chinese company working on voice-based human-computerinteraction technologies, says voice assistants for drivers are in some waysmore promising than smart speakers and virtual assistants embedded insmartphones. When the driver』s eyes and hands are occupied, it makes more senseto rely on voice commands. In addition, once drivers become used to gettingthings done using their voice, the assistant can also become a contentprovider, recommending entertainment options instead of passively handlingrequests. This way, a new business model will evolve.
中國另一家專註於人機語音交互技術的公司思必馳（AISpeech）副總裁初敏表示，從某些方面來看，面向司機的語音助手要比智能手機內置的虛擬助手，以及智能音箱更有前景。當司機的雙眼和雙手被佔據時，語音命令會更有意義。此外，一旦司機習慣於用語音來完成操作，那麼這樣的助手就可以成為內容分發渠道，向司機推薦娛樂選擇，而不僅僅是被動地處理請求。這將帶來全新的商業模式。
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In thehealth-care industry, although artificial intelligence has the potential toreduce costs and improve patient outcomes, many hospitals are reluctant to takethe plunge for fear of disrupting an already strained system that has fewdoctors but lots of patients.
在醫療行業，儘管人工智慧有望降低成本，改善治療效果，但許多醫院擔心，這將擾亂供需平衡已經緊張的醫療系統，因此並不願意冒險。
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At the AnhuiProvincial Hospital, which is testing a number of trials using AI, voice-basedtechnologies are transforming many aspects of its service. Ten voice assistantsin the shape of a robot girl use iFlytek』s technology to greet visitors in thelobby of the outpatient department and offer relief for overworkedreceptionists. Patients can tell the voice assistant what their symptoms are,and then find out which department can help.
安徽省立智慧醫院（人工智慧輔助診療中心）宣傳片，時長約4『34』『
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Doctors atthe hospital are also using iFlytek to dictate a patient』s vital signs,medications taken, and other bits of information into a mobile app, which thenturns everything into written records. The app uses voice print technology as asignature system that cannot be falsified. The app is collecting data that willimprove its algorithms over time.
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Althoughvoice-based AI techniques are becoming more useful in different scenarios, onefundamental challenge remains: machines do not understand the answers theygenerate, says Xiaojun Wan, a professor at Peking University who does researchin natural-language processing. The AI responds to voice queries by searchingfor a relevant answer in the vast amount of data it was fed, but it has no realunderstanding of what it says.
研究自然語言處理的北京大學教授萬小軍指出，儘管基於語音的人工智慧技術在多種場景中都越來越有用，但基礎性挑戰依然存在：機器無法理解它們產生的答案。人工智慧對語音命令的響應是通過在海量數據中搜索具有相關性的答案，實際上並不真正理解自己所說的內容。
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In otherwords, the natural-language processing technology that powers today』s voiceassistants is based on a set of rigid rules, resulting in the kind ofmisunderstanding Xu went through.
換句話說，當前語音助手使用的自然語言處理技術基於一套嚴格的規則，這也導致了徐剛遭遇的問題。
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Changing theway machines process language will help companies create voice-based AI devicesthat will become an integral part of our daily life. 「Whoever makes abreakthrough in natural-language processing will enjoy an edge in the market,」says Chu.
如果可以對機器處理語言的方式進行變革，那麼企業就可以開發出能深入人們日常生活的語音智能設備。初敏表示：「任何人如果能在自然語言處理領域取得突破，都可以在市場上獲得優勢。」
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