谷歌宣佈在中國成立人工智能研究中心

HONG KONG — Google pulled some of its core businesses out of China seven years ago, after concluding that government controls and surveillance ran counter to its commitment to a free and open internet.

香港——七年前，谷歌(Google)得出結論認爲，中國政府的控制和監控與公司致力於自由開放的互聯網的承諾背道而馳。之後，公司將一些核心業務撤出了中國。

Since then, as China’s online scene has grown and prospered, the American search giant has been looking for ways to tiptoe back in.

從那以後，隨着中國網上景象的發展繁榮，這家美國搜索巨頭一直在尋找悄悄回到中國的方法。

On Wednesday, it unveiled a small but symbolically significant move toward that end: a China-based center devoted to artificial intelligence. The move nods to the country’s growing strength in A.I., thanks to substantial government funding prompted by Beijing’s ambition of having a say in the technologies of the future.

週三，谷歌公佈了一個規模不大但具有象徵意義的、朝着上述目標邁出的一步：公司將成立一個致力於人工智能（簡稱AI）的中國中心。北京有在未來技術領域擁有發言權的野心，這種野心推動了中國政府的大力投入，讓國內在人工智能領域展現出日益增長的實力。谷歌此舉是對這種實力的認可。

Google said the center would have a team of experts in Beijing, where the company has hundreds of employees in research and development, as well as other roles. The center will be led by Fei-Fei Li, who runs Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Lab and leads the artificial intelligence arm of Google’s Cloud business, and Jia Li, the head of research and development for the A.I. division of Google Cloud.

谷歌表示，該中心將在北京擁有一個專家團隊，谷歌已在北京有數百名從事研發和其他工作的員工。谷歌AI中國中心將由李飛飛和李佳領導。李飛飛是斯坦福大學人工智能實驗室的負責人，領導着谷歌雲業務的人工智能部門；李佳是谷歌雲業務的人工智能部門研發主管。

The Silicon Valley company, which announced the center’s opening at a software developer conference in Shanghai, cited China’s growing academic and technical contributions to the A.I. field, and said the new center would be “working closely with the vibrant Chinese A.I. research community.”

在上海舉行的一個軟件開發者大會上，這家硅谷公司宣佈了成立該中心的決定。谷歌在宣佈中提到，中國在人工智能領域的學術和技術方面的貢獻不斷增加，並表示新中心將“與中國活躍的人工智能研究界緊密合作”。

“The science of A.I. has no borders,” Fei-Fei Li said in a post on Google’s website, and “neither do its benefits.”

“人工智能科學沒有國界，”李飛飛在谷歌網站上的一篇文章中寫道，“其帶來的好處也沒有國界。”

Google did not disclose financial details.

谷歌沒有披露有關的財務細節。

The company is only the latest big technology name to set up an A.I. shop in China to capitalize on growing skills and lavish state support. Microsoft, IBM and other Western and domestic stalwarts are busy hiring Chinese staff members in a field with a wide variety of potential applications.

許多大型技術公司都在中國成立人工智能中心，希望能夠對中國在這個領域不斷增長的技能和政府的慷慨支持加以利用， 谷歌只不過是其中最近的一個。微軟(Microsoft)、IBM及其他西方和國內的致力於AI的企業正忙着在這個有各種潛在應用的領域僱用中國員工。

China’s A.I. push is part of a government-driven effort to upgrade the country’s technological abilities and to wean itself off foreign-made software and advanced equipment. The push has prompted worries among Western corporate executives, and increasingly the Trump administration, which complain that Beijing unfairly nurtures their potential rivals.

中國推動人工智能項目是政府牽頭的努力的一部分。中國政府正在努力提升國內的技術能力，讓中國不受外國製造的軟件和先進設備的制約。這種努力在西方企業高管中，並且越來越多地在特朗普政府中引起擔憂；西方企業抱怨稱，北京扶植其潛在競爭對手的做法不公平。

The new Google A.I. center could deepen the company’s fraught but complicated relationship with China, now home to the world’s biggest population of online users.

新的谷歌人工智能中心可能會加深該公司與中國之間焦慮而複雜的關係，中國目前有世界上最大的在線用戶羣體。

Google closed its search business in China in 2010, saying it would no longer tolerate Beijing’s censorship requirements and government-linked efforts to hack the Gmail accounts of human rights activists and others. Google’s services were subsequently blocked in the country, and China’s internet developed its own answers to the company’s products, from email and search to video-sharing and chat.

2010年，谷歌在關閉了其在中國的搜索業務。公司當時表示，對於北京的審查要求，以及侵入人權活動人士和其他人的Gmail賬戶的有政府背景的努力，該公司不會再容忍。谷歌的服務隨後在中國被屏蔽，而中國在互聯網上發展出了自己一系列服務，從電子郵件和搜索、到視頻分享和聊天等，替代谷歌的產品。

Still, Google never left China entirely. It has an active business distributing online ads for desktop computers and mobile applications, and Chinese makers of smartphones use its Android mobile device software.

儘管如此，谷歌從未徹底離開中國。谷歌在中國有一個活躍的在線廣告業務，在桌面端和移動端應用平臺上分銷廣告；中國的智能手機制造商也使用谷歌的Android移動設備操作系統。

The two sides have shown signs of warming. Last week, Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, spoke at China’s annual internet conference in the city of Wuzhen, saying the company did robust business helping Chinese firms seeking customers abroad. And this year, Google began offering its translation software in China.

雙方都已顯示出緩和的跡象。上週，谷歌首席執行官桑達爾·皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)在烏鎮舉行的年度中國互聯網大會上講話時說，在幫助中國企業尋找海外客戶方面，谷歌的業務很強勁。今年，谷歌開始在中國推出其翻譯軟件。

“We have 600-plus employees in China and we had a similar number in 2010,” said Taj Meadows, a Google spokesman. “Roughly half of them are engineers working on global products. Work on A.I. will be in a similar vein.”

“我們在中國有600多名員工，和我們在2010年的人數相近，”谷歌發言人泰姬·梅多斯(Taj Meadows)說。“其中大約一半是從事全球產品研發的工程師。人工智能的研發也將是類似的情況。”

Tech figures inside and outside the country are watching whether Google opens a mobile app store there, but there has been little indication of progress on that front.

國內外技術界的人士都在關注谷歌是否會在中國開設移動應用店，但在這方面幾乎沒有出現進展的跡象。