The mass distribution of internet-connected devices together with advances in cloud computing and software algorithms mean AI is ready to hit the mainstream like never before in 2018. Here are eight ways how it will happen.
联网设备的大规模普及，再加上云计算和软件算法方面的进步，意味着2018年人工智能以前所未有的速度成为了主流话题之一。以下是八种实现方式。
You’ve heard of artificial intelligence – everyone from Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t stop talking about it in 2017. But this year, AI will affect your life in tangible ways.
你肯定听说过“人工智能”—— 从埃隆·马斯克（特斯拉CEO兼董事会主席）到马克·扎克伯格（Facebook的首席执行官），2017年里几乎每个人都在不停谈论着它。但今年，人工智能将会以实际的方式影响你的生活。
“I believe 2018 is the year that this will start to become mainstream, to begin to impact many aspects of our lives in a truly ubiquitous and meaningful way,” says Ralph Haupter, president of Microsoft Asia.
“我相信2018年是人工智能开始成为主流的一年：这将以一种几乎无处不在且充满意义的方式开始影响着我们生活的诸多方面。”微软亚太区总裁贺乐赋说道。
The idea that computers have some amount of “intelligence” is not new, says Haupter, pointing as far back as 1950 when computer pioneer Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. “So it has taken nearly 70 years for the right combination of factors to come together to move AI from concept to an increasingly ubiquitous reality.”
他说，计算机拥有某种程度上的“智能”，这种想法并不新鲜。之后他指出，早在1950年，计算机先驱人物艾伦·图灵就曾思考机器是否可以思考。 “因此，将正确的组合因素结合起来，使人工智能从概念转化为日益普遍的现实，花了将近70年的时间。”
Those factors are the mass distribution and use of internet-connected devices, which generate massive quantities of data, and cloud computing and software algorithms that can recognise patterns within data, Haupter says.
他说，这些因素包括联网设备的大规模普及，产生了大量的数据； 以及可以识别数据模式的云计算和软件算法的出现。
The development of artificial intelligence will be the story of the coming generations, not just the coming year. But as 2018 gets underway, here are eight ways AI will begin to touch your life.
人工智能的发展不仅仅是来年的事，这也将成为未来几代人的事。但随着2018年的到来，以下是人工智能开始触及你生活的8种方式。
1. Everybody will have a virtual assistant, and they’re going to be pretty smart
1. 每个人都将拥有一个虚拟助理，并且他们都很聪明
“Personal assistant AIs will keep getting smarter. As our personal assistants learn more about our daily routines, I can imagine the day I need not to worry about [buying food for] dinner. My AI knows what I like, what I have in my pantry, which days of the week I like to cook at home, and makes sure that when I get back from work all my groceries are waiting at my doorstep, ready for me to prepare that delicious meal I had been craving.”
“拥有了人工智能支持的虚拟助理将继续变得更加聪明。当我们的私人助理
