‘Odyssey’ director Christopher Nolan calls AI an obvious ‘Trojan horse’

《奥德赛》导演克里斯托弗·诺兰称人工智能是显而易见的“特洛伊木马”

Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning director whose new version of “The Odyssey” is currently conquering the box office, said it’s been “pretty encouraging” to see deep skepticism of AI, especially from young people. 曾获奥斯卡奖的导演克里斯托弗·诺兰（Christopher Nolan）执导的新版《奥德赛》目前正在横扫票房。他表示，看到人们（尤其是年轻人）对人工智能持有深刻的怀疑态度，这“相当令人鼓舞”。

Nolan was responding to a question from interviewer Hugo Travers, who publishes on YouTube under the name HugoDécrypte. Travers brought up the legendary Trojan horse, which plays a key role in Nolan’s film — just as the horse was a gift concealing murderous Greek invaders, he wondered if AI might be something “that you welcome in your daily life” only to see it become “something else and something darker.” 诺兰是在回应采访者雨果·特拉弗斯（Hugo Travers）的问题时发表上述言论的，特拉弗斯在 YouTube 上以 HugoDécrypte 的名义发布内容。特拉弗斯提到了在诺兰电影中起关键作用的传奇“特洛伊木马”——正如那匹木马是一份隐藏着凶残希腊入侵者的礼物，他想知道人工智能是否也可能是一种“你欢迎进入日常生活”，却最终演变成“某种截然不同且更黑暗的东西”。

Laughing, Nolan responded, “I think AI is a Trojan horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside.” He later described the technology as “a transparent horse, it’s made of glass.” 诺兰笑着回答道：“我认为人工智能就是一个大家都知道里面藏着希腊人的特洛伊木马。”他随后将这项技术描述为“一匹透明的马，它是用玻璃做的”。

“I’ve never seen a technology advancing so rapidly [that’s been] so completely rejected by the public,” he said. “Everybody’s suspicion of it is so extreme, particularly young people. The reaction to AI videos online and people my children’s age immediately calling it ‘AI slop’ and coining that term and just putting it in a box.” “我从未见过一种技术在进步如此迅速的同时，又被公众如此彻底地排斥，”他说。“每个人对它的怀疑都非常极端，尤其是年轻人。看看网上对 AI 视频的反应，我孩子那个年纪的人会立刻称其为‘AI 垃圾’（AI slop），创造了这个词，并直接将其归类。”

In Nolan’s view, this is “a very healthy skepticism, because technology is always going to give us great gifts, as you say, but it has to be viewed with skepticism.” Similarly, he said, “The motives of the people giving it to us also have to be viewed with skepticism. That’s when we’ll get the best out of a new technology, rather than just blind faith that everything’s going to be great.” 在诺兰看来，这是一种“非常健康的怀疑态度，因为正如你所说，技术总是会给我们带来伟大的礼物，但必须以怀疑的眼光来看待它。”同样，他表示：“提供这些技术的人的动机也必须受到怀疑。只有这样，我们才能从新技术中获得最大的益处，而不是盲目地相信一切都会变得美好。”

(Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been angrily posting about the film’s nonwhite and transgender cast members.) （与此同时，SpaceX 首席执行官埃隆·马斯克一直在愤怒地发帖，抨击该片中非白人和跨性别演员的选角。）

Nolan didn’t get more specific about what he views as the threat from AI, but the technology has been a growing source of concern in Hollywood and was a major focus during the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023. The Directors Guild of America, where Nolan is president, also won some generative AI protections in its most recent contract. 诺兰没有具体说明他认为人工智能带来的威胁是什么，但这项技术已成为好莱坞日益关注的焦点，也是 2023 年编剧和演员罢工期间的主要议题。诺兰担任主席的美国导演工会（Directors Guild of America）也在其最近的合同中争取到了一些针对生成式人工智能的保护条款。

The director has been famously resistant to other technologies, including smartphones; his embrace of film can make him seem simultaneously like a Luddite and a pioneer, with “The Odyssey” becoming the first feature film to be shot entirely on Imax film and cameras. 这位导演以抵制其他技术（包括智能手机）而闻名；他对胶片电影的坚持使他看起来既像是一个卢德分子（技术抵制者），又像是一位先驱。《奥德赛》成为了第一部完全使用 IMAX 胶片和摄影机拍摄的故事片。

When The New York Times recently asked Nolan if he thinks of himself as a technophobe, he replied, “I think of myself as a techno-skeptic,” and said his love of film comes from the fact that it’s “better in terms of representing the way the eye sees the world than any digital imaging system I’ve seen.” 当《纽约时报》最近问诺兰是否认为自己是一个“技术恐惧者”时，他回答说：“我认为自己是一个‘技术怀疑论者’。”他表示，他对胶片的热爱源于这样一个事实：“在呈现人眼观察世界的方式上，它比我见过的任何数字成像系统都要好。”

“I embrace new technology all the time, but it tends to be sold to people at the expense of systems that might still be valid and viable,” Nolan said. “That’s what I saw in my industry — throwing the baby out with the bath water. We almost lost film!” “我一直都在拥抱新技术，但它往往是以牺牲那些可能仍然有效且可行的系统为代价推销给人们的，”诺兰说。“这就是我在我的行业中所看到的——把孩子和洗澡水一起倒掉了。我们差点就失去了胶片！”