We are encountering real-world examples of how AI can harm human relations. As digital assistants such as Alexa or Siri become popular, we become accustomed to talking to them as though they were alive. Writing in these pages several years ago, Judith Shulevitz described how some of us are starting to treat them as friends and therapists. Shulevitz herself says she confesses (忏悔) things to Google Assistant that she wouldn’t tell her husband. If we grow more comfortable talking to our devices about our secrets, what happens to our human marriages and friendships? Designers and programmers typically create devices whose responses make us feel better—but may not help us be self-reflective or think over painful truths. As Al goes deeper into our lives, we must face the possibility that it will prevent our emotions and deep human connects.

Besides, we will fight with some other challenges. The age of driverless cars, after all, is upon us. These vehicles promise to considerably reduce the exhaustion and distraction that put human drivers in danger, thus preventing accidents. But what other effects might they have on people? Driving is a very modern kind of social interaction, requiring high levels of cooperation. I worry that driverless cars, by taking away from us an occasion to exercise this ability, could contribute to its decline.

Not only will these vehicles be programmed to take over driving duties and hence to remove from humans the power to make moral judgments (for example, about which pedestrian to hit when a crash is unavoidable) , they will also affect humans with whom they’ve had no direct contact. For instance, drivers who have steered awhile alongside an autonomous vehicle traveling at a steady, changeless speed might drive less attentively, thus increasing their likelihood of accidents once they’ve moved to a part of the highway occupied only by human drivers. Alternatively, experience may reveal that driving alongside autonomous vehicles travelling in perfect accordance with (按照) traffic laws actually improves human performance.

Either way, we should be careful to launch new forms of AI without first taking such unexpected social effects into account. We must apply the same effort that we apply to the hardware and software that make self-driving cars possible to managing AI’s potential effects on those outside the car. After all, we install brake lights on the back of your car not just, or even primarily, for your benefit, but for the sake of the people behind you.

【小题1】What can be inferred about human relationships from the first paragraph?

A．AI will lead to distant inter-personal relationships.

B．We will feel comfortable speaking to others online.

C．AI will enable people to communicate more with others.

D．We will be more self-reflective in interaction thanks to Al.

【小题2】In Paragraph 2, the phrase “its decline” refers to the decline in _______..

A．drivers’ interaction with the cars

B．drivers’ exhaustion and distraction

C．our ability to cooperate with others while driving

D．our ability to deal with emergencies while driving

【小题3】According to the passage, which of the following statements is true of driverless cars?

A．They may be better at making more judgments than human drivers.

B．They need to vary their speed to make contact with human drivers.

C．They may make human drivers in other cars drive more safely.

D．They need to force human drivers to concentrate in the car.

【小题4】What’s the author’s purpose of writing this passage?

A．To present the challenges brought by AI.

B．To explain the reason why AI may harm human relations.

C．To put forward how to solve the unexpected effect of AI.

D．To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of driverless cars.