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The 2024 Good Tech Awards
2024年好科技大奖
In the tech industry, 2024 was a year of fast change and shifting winds.
在科技行业，2024年是急剧变化和风向转变的一年。
Tech companies continued to make breakneck progress in artificial intelligence, with AI products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude all getting big updates during the year, and billions being spent on the creation of even more powerful models.
科技公司在人工智能方面继续取得迅猛进展，其中OpenAI的ChatGPT、谷歌的Gemini和Anthropic公司的Claude等AI产品都在这一年进行了重大更新，科技公司也在继续投入数十亿美元创造更强大的模型。
(And the researchers behind Google’s AlphaFold, an AI project on proteins that I gave a Good Tech Award three years ago, got a slightly more prestigious award this year — the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.)
（谷歌的AlphaFold项目用人工智能研究蛋白质，三年前我给项目研究人员授予了好科技奖，今年他们获得了一个更有名的奖——诺贝尔化学奖。）
But AI was not the only thing happening in Silicon Valley.
但是硅谷并不是只有人工智能。
This year, tech companies fought bitterly with regulators and clashed with governments, and a revanchist “founder mode” movement led some tech chief executives to embrace micromanagement.
2024年，科技公司与监管机构激烈斗争，与政府发生冲突，一场复仇主义的“创始人模式”运动导致一些科技高管开始拥抱微观管理。
In the fall, as the election gripped the nation, an ascendant “tech right” lined up behind Donald J. Trump.
在秋季，随着选举吸引了全国的注意力，一个正在崛起的“科技右翼”势力与唐纳德·J. 特朗普站在了同一战线。
After his win, many tech leaders began sucking up to the president-elect in hopes of an easier second term.
在特朗普胜选后，许多科技领袖开始巴结这位当选总统，希望他的第二个任期能手下留情。
Every year in this column, I try to shine the spotlight on a few tech projects that I think contributed positively to humanity.
每年在这个专栏中，我都会尝试把聚光灯投向一些我认为对人类有积极贡献的科技项目。
As always, my criteria for what constitutes “good tech” are vague and arbitrary, but it has become an important exercise for me.
如往年一样，我对于“好科技”的标准是模糊和主观的，但这个评选对我来说已经成为一项重要的练习。
One reason is that it helps me offset any subconscious negativity bias I have during the year.
一个原因是它有助于我消除在这一年中潜意识里的消极偏见。
Another is that I’ve heard from previous recipients that getting an award for their work (even one that consists purely of a mention in a newspaper column, and has no prize attached) has inspired them to keep going.
另一个原因是我从以前的获奖者那里听说，他们的工作获了奖（即使只是在报纸专栏中提及，没有奖金）能激励他们继续努力。
I think technologists should use their powers for the public good, and I hope everyone on this year’s list will be similarly encouraged.
我认为科技专家应该利用他们的力量为公众利益服务，也希望今年榜单上的所有人都能受到同样的鼓舞。
So with no further ado, here are this year’s Good Tech Awards:
那么闲话少说，以下是今年的优秀科技奖：
To Epoch AI, for giving us reliable data on the AI boom
致纪元AI，感谢其在AI大繁荣时为我们提供可靠数据
Few groups this year were more widely praised among AI insiders than Epoch AI, a small nonprofit research organization whose work has helped lawmakers, academics and the public at large understand what’s happening in AI.
今年在AI业内人士中，很少有团体比纪元AI受到更广泛的赞誉，纪元AI是一个小型非营利研究组织，其工作帮助立法者、学者和广大公众了解在AI领域发生了什么。
Epoch AI was started in 2022 and is run today by Jaime Sevilla, a 28-year-old Spanish AI researcher who believes that the industry needs better data about its own trends and trajectories.
纪元AI成立于2022年，如今由28岁的西班牙AI研究员海梅·塞维利亚掌管，他认为AI行业需要有关自身发展趋势和轨迹的更好数据。
The firm maintains public databases of AI models and AI hardware, and publishes research on AI trends, including an influential report this year about whether AI models can continue to grow at their current pace.
该公司维护AI模型和AI硬件的公共数据库，并发表关于AI趋势的研究，包括今年发表的一份关于AI模型能否继续以目前速度发展的有影响力的报告。
(Epoch AI concluded they most likely could until 2030.)
（纪元AI得出结论，AI很有可能在2030年之前都能继续以这种速度发展。）
It also develops its own tests to gauge the capabilities of leading AI models, such as the FrontierMath benchmark, which tests advanced mathematical skill.
该公司还开发了自己的测试，来衡量领先的AI模型的能力，例如测试高级数学技能的“前沿数学基准测试”。
To make good decisions about AI, we need an accurate picture of the technology’s progress, and Epoch AI’s work has brought much-needed rigor and empiricism to an industry that often runs on hype and vibes.
为了做出正确的AI决策，我们需要对AI的进展有一个准确的了解，而纪元AI的工作为这个常常依赖炒作和氛围的行业带来了其急需的严谨性和实证主义。
