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It has taken a year, but Google has finally delivered a coherent response to the surprise challenge to its dominance in artificial intelligence that came with the launch of ChatGPT.
随着ChatGPT的推出，谷歌(Google)在人工智能领域的主导地位遭遇了意外挑战，谷歌花了一年时间，终于对这一挑战做出了一系列回应。
This week’s release of Gemini, a family of large language models, will give it a stronger platform to fight back against both OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and Microsoft, which has used OpenAI’s models to supercharge all its software and cloud services this year.
本周发布的大型语言模型系列Gemini将为它提供一个更强大的平台，以对抗ChatGPT背后的OpenAI和微软(Microsoft)。微软今年已使用OpenAI的模型来增强其所有软件和云服务。
The question now is whether Gemini can make a meaningful difference to Google’s existing services — and, perhaps even more important, whether it can become a foundation for a new range of services that carry AI much deeper into everyday life.
现在的问题是，Gemini 能否给谷歌现有的服务带来有意义的改变——也许更重要的是，它能否成为一系列新服务的基础，让人工智能更深入地融入日常生活。
With the three “flavours” of Gemini announced this week, Google is finally stamping its mark on a technology that its own researchers did much to pioneer, but which OpenAI’s ChatGPT carried into the mainstream. The Pro version, for instance, is positioned squarely against OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, the model behind the free version of ChatGPT and the workhorse for many of the first generative AI applications from other companies that have hit the market this year.
随着本周Gemini三种“口味”的公布，谷歌终于在这项自己的研究人员开发、却被OpenAI的ChatGPT带入主流的技术上打上了自己的印记。例如，Pro版的定位与OpenAI的GPT-3.5完全相同，后者是ChatGPT免费版本背后的模型，也是今年其他公司推出的许多首批生成式人工智能应用程序的主力。
The smaller Gemini Nano is matched against systems such as the smallest version of LLaMa 2, Facebook’s open-source model, making it capable of being run on a mobile device. Apple, as always, is taking a considered approach before bringing generative AI to the iPhone, but the appearance of Gemini on Google’s latest Pixel handset is a sign that it can’t afford to wait too long.
较小的Gemini Nano可以与最小版本的LLaMa 2 (Facebook的开源模型)等系统相匹敌，使其能够在移动设备上运行。苹果(Apple)一如既往地在将生成式人工智能引入iPhone之前采取了深思熟虑的态度，但Gemini在谷歌最新款Pixel手机上的出现表明，它等不了太久。
It is the top-of-the-line Gemini Ultra, due out early next year, that carries Google’s main hopes of matching or leapfrogging OpenAI’s GPT-4 in the race to turn generative AI into a more useful everyday tool. The company fell behind this year, but has some clear advantages that could help bring Gemini to a big market in 2024.
将于明年初推出的顶级模型Gemini Ultra，承载了谷歌的主要希望，即在将生成式人工智能转变为更有用的日常工具的竞赛中，赶上或超越OpenAI的GPT-4。该公司今年在这方面落后了，但有一些明显的优势可以帮助Gemini在2024年进入一个大市场。
One is distribution. Google said this week, for instance, that Gemini will be added to Chrome, which has more than 60 per cent of the browser market, giving billions of web users instant access to tools that are able to do things such as analyse the content of web pages.
其一是分布。例如，谷歌本周表示，将把Gemini添加到占浏览器市场逾60%份额的Chrome浏览器中，使数十亿网络用户即时访问能够分析网页内容等功能的工具。
As Google flexes its existing market power like this to boost its AI ambitions, competition regulators will be watching closely.
随着谷歌像这样利用其现有的市场力量来推动其人工智能雄心，竞争监管机构将密切关注。
Another advantage for Google is the uncertainty around OpenAI. After the shock sacking and reinstatement of chief executive Sam Altman last month, the many businesses that have built their own generative AI plans on top of OpenAI’s models will be looking to hedge their bets.
谷歌的另一个优势是OpenAI的不确定性。上月，OpenAI首席执行官萨姆•奥尔特曼(Sam Altman)被令人震惊地解雇并复职后，许多在OpenAI模型基础上建立了自己的生成式人工智能计划的企业将寻求对冲赌注。
The search company will also be hoping that its Bard chatbot will do a better job of rivalling ChatGPT now that it has a better language model behind it. But its best hope of regaining an edge may lie in being the first to come up with the next breakthrough services powered by generative AI. Some of the capabilities claimed for Gemini point to where Google thinks these might lie.
这家搜索公司也希望它的Bard聊天机器人在拥有更好的语言模型后，能更好地与ChatGPT竞争。但该公司重获优势的最大希望可能在于率先推出由生成式人工智能驱动的下一个突破性服务。谷歌声称Gemini具备的一些功能表明，谷歌认为这些功能可能实现。
It has made much, for instance, of the fact that Gemini was designed from the outset to be “multimodal” — that is, able to understand not just text but also images, video and audio. According to Google, that makes it better suited than models such as GPT-4 to deal with the sort of everyday situations that rely on senses such as sight and hearing.
例如，它对Gemini从一开始就被设计为“多模式”这一事实进行了大量的宣传——也就是说，它不仅能够理解文本，还能够理解图像、视频和音频。根据谷歌的说法，这使得它比GPT-4等模型更适合处理依赖视觉和听觉等感官的日常情况。
That may be a step towards AI systems that are better able to operate in the real world. But it is too soon to tell what applications this could make possible, or whether Google really has achieved the technical superiority it claims.
这可能是朝着能够更好地在现实世界中运行的人工智能系统迈出的一步。但现在判断这能实现哪些应用，或者谷歌是否真的取得了它所宣称的技术优势，还为时过早。
Another avenue for development lies in what Google claims are Gemini’s reasoning and planning capabilities. These are the kind of skills that could prepare the ground for personal assistants able to tackle complex problems and set a plan of action.
另一个发展方向在于谷歌所说的Gemini的推理和规划能力。这些技能可以为日后成为能够解决复杂问题并制定行动计划的个人助理打下基础。
If such assistants are linked to other internet services, they could also become agents, taking action on their users’ behalf. Imagine a shopping agent, for instance, that not only hunts out the products you want but goes ahead and pays for them as well.
如果这些助手与其他互联网服务相连接，它们也可能成为代理，代表用户采取行动。例如，想象一下购物代理，它不仅能帮你找到你想要的产品，还能帮你付款。
This is already shaping up to be one of the key AI battles of 2024 and beyond. OpenAI took a first step in this direction last month when it said its users would be able to build rudimentary agents on top of its models, then offer them for sale on an OpenAI app store. That could point to the next big AI breakthrough beyond ChatGPT — and this time, Google has no intention of being left behind.
这已经成为2024年及以后人工智能领域的关键战役之一。OpenAI上个月在这个方向上迈出了第一步，该公司表示，它的用户将能够在其模型基础上构建初级代理，然后在OpenAI的应用商店中出售。这可能预示着ChatGPT之外的下一个重大人工智能突破——而这一次，谷歌无意被抛在后面。