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Google is dethroning OpenAI as the king of consumer AI

本篇文章选自经济学人May 20th 2026 Business | Agents for the masses

THE AMPHITHEATRE complex where Google holds its annual software-developers’ conference has a cheesy, fairground feel. RVs are parked on site. Employees whiz in on the tech company’s multi-coloured bicycles. There are stands and sideshows everywhere. On stage, Sundar Pichai, its boss, tells a corny joke about Google’s overworked chips, known as TPUs, doing “teraflops into bed”.

今年，谷歌一年一度的开发者大会选在一处圆形剧场式的场馆，整体氛围像个略显浮夸的游乐场。场馆内内停着露营房车，员工骑着标志性的彩色单车来回穿梭，四处都是产品展台与趣味互动区。谷歌CEO桑达尔・皮查伊在台上还讲了个冷笑话：谷歌专用的TPU芯片常年超负荷运转，就算上床休息也还在进行万亿次的运算。

amphitheatre /ˈæmfɪθɪətə(r) n.圆形剧场；阶梯式会场

Open air amphitheatre 露天圆形剧场

例句：The speech was delivered in an ancient amphitheatre.

cheesy /ˈtʃiːzi/adj. 俗气的；花哨廉价的；做作的

cheesy decoration 俗气的装饰

例句：The hotel has a cheesy old fashioned style.

fairground /ˈfeəɡraʊnd/n. 露天游乐场；集市场地

fairground ride 游乐场游乐设施

例句：Children love playing games on the fairground.

on site在现场；就地

例句：Staff can receive training on site.

stand /stænd/n. 展台；摊位

exhibition stand 展览展台

news stand 报刊亭

例句：We set up a stand to show our new products

corny /ˈkɔːni/adj. 老套的；陈腐的；（笑话）冷的

corny joke 冷笑话；老套笑话

例句：He always tells corny jokes at parties.

The event is by no means as sleek as Apple’s developer jamboree held in June, which tries to retain some of the minimalist chic of the late Steve Jobs. But when it comes to artificial intelligence, Google long ago upstaged the maker of the iPhone (its models will power many of Apple’s AI features going forward). It now looks as though it may steal the consumer AI crown from OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, as well.

谷歌这场发布会，远不如苹果今年6月的开发者大会那般精致考究。苹果至今仍在延续乔布斯留下的极简高级风。但在人工智能赛道上，谷歌早已压过苹果一头 。苹果未来不少 AI 功能，都要依靠谷歌模型驱动。如今，谷歌甚至有望从 ChatGPT 开发商 OpenAI 手中，夺得消费级AI领域的头把交椅。

sleek /sliːk  adj. 时髦精致的；流畅的；光鲜的

sleek design 精致流畅的设计

例句：The phone has a sleek appearance

jamboree /ˌdʒæmbəˈriː/n. 大型盛会；狂欢集会

tech jamboree 科技盛会

例句：The conference is a tech jamboree.

retain /rɪˈteɪn/v. 保持；保留；维持

retain features 保留特色

retain control 保持掌控

例句：We should retain our traditional culture

minimalist /ˈmɪnɪməlɪst/adj. 极简主义的；极简的 

minimalist style 极简风格

例句：He likes minimalist decoration.

chic /ʃiːk/n. 别致；格调；高级感

urban chic 都市格调

例句：The room has simple chic.

5 月 19 日，谷歌推出了全新系列AI智能体，均基于最新的 Gemini 3.5 Flash 大模型。这批产品既有可对标 OpenAI、Anthropic的AI编程工具，也有专为普通用户打造、可处理各类日常事务的智能助手。部分智能体将接入月活9亿的 Gemini 应用，其余则直接内嵌在用户超 30 亿的谷歌搜索中。简言之，谷歌正把 AI 智能体全面普及给普通大众。

line up：系列产品；阵容；一批

a new lineup of products 全新系列产品

例句：The brand launched a new line up of phones.

rival /ˈraɪvl/v. 与…… 竞争；媲美

rival sb/sth 与…… 匹敌

例句：This product rivals the best on the market

regular folk普通民众；普通人

例句：The service is designed for regular folk.

go about忙于；从事；处理

go about daily life 打理日常生活

例句：People go about their daily lives normally.

embed /ɪmˈbed/v. 嵌入；植入

be embedded in 被嵌入……

例句：AI functions are embedded in the app.

masses /ˈmæsɪz/n. 大众；民众

bring sth to the masses 推向大众

例句：Technology should serve the masses.

As is common in Silicon Valley, the examples executives used on stage raised plenty of eyebrows. How often would someone need an AI agent to make a slide presentation for a bouncy-castle party? Yet the tools unveiled also show promise. An agent called Gemini Spark will be able to do things such as scan emails or organise group trips even after a user has closed their laptop or put down their phone, while “information agents” in Google Search will be able to keep tabs on sports tournaments, shopping sales or the stockmarket.

秉持硅谷各类发布会一贯风格，高管们在台上演示的案例，让台下观众不知所云。谁会专门用AI智能体，给一场充气城堡儿童派对做 PPT？不过谷歌此次推出的工具确实具备实用潜力。比如名为Gemini Spark 的智能体，即便用户关掉电脑、放下手机，也能继续完成查收邮件、规划集体出行这类任务；而谷歌搜索中的 “信息智能体”，还能实时跟进体育赛事、电商大促和股市行情。

raise plenty of eyebrows令人吃惊；让人费解；引起质疑

例句：His strange plan raised plenty of eyebrows.

presentationn. 演示；报告；幻灯片展示

slide presentation 幻灯片演示

例句：He gave a short presentation.

keep tabs on密切关注；持续追踪；留意

例句：We keep tabs on market changes.

tournament /ˈtʊənəmənt/n. 锦标赛；赛事

sports tournament 体育赛事

例句：The football tournament is popular worldwide.

Investors are certainly bullish on Google’s prospects. The market value of Alphabet, its parent company, is now within a hair’s breadth of $5trn, having passed $4trn only in January (see chart). Yet Google’s success in AI is also creating problems. According to Mr Pichai, the number of tokens—Silicon Valley’s favoured measure of AI usage—consumed by its services has risen to 3.2 quadrillion a month, up from 480trn a year ago. Each token requires computing power, and therefore money, to generate, which is why Google’s capital expenditure this year will be up to $190bn, six times as much as four years ago. Moreover, that money does not go as far as it used to, because everything from chips to energy has become more expensive. Even for Google, there are limits to how much it can afford to spend.

投资者十分看好谷歌的发展前景。如今，谷歌母公司 Alphabet 的市值距5万亿美元仅一步之遥，而今年1月，该公司市值才刚突破 4 万亿美元大关（见图表）。谷歌在人工智能领域的高歌猛进，也催生了新难题。据皮查伊透露，硅谷用以衡量 AI 使用规模的常用指标 —— 令牌（token）消耗量，谷歌旗下各项服务每月已达 3.2 千万亿个，而一年前仅为 480 万亿个。每生成一个令牌都要消耗算力，也就意味着成本。正因如此，谷歌今年的资本支出最高将达 1900 亿美元，是四年前的六倍。除此之外，如今资金的使用效率也大不如前：从芯片到能源，各类成本全面上涨。即便是谷歌，可承受的投入规模也终有上限。

bullish /ˈbʊlɪʃ/adj. 乐观的；看涨的；看好的

be bullish on… 看好……

bullish market 牛市

例句：Investors are bullish on the new technology.

prospect /ˈprɒspekt/n. 前景；前途；可能性

future prospects 未来前景

job prospects 就业前景

例句：Investors are bullish on the new technology.

within a hair’s breadth of....:差一点；逼近；仅一步之遥

例句：She was within a hair’s breadth of winning.

quadrillion /kwɒˈdrɪljən/n.千万亿

例句：The system processes quadrillions of data every day

外刊长难句

昨日难句及标准答案

标准答案

当组织试图通过持续监控和细致指标来提升绩效时，往往会在无意中削弱信任，促使员工去优化“被衡量的内容”，而非这些衡量本应服务的更宏观目标。

生词和习语注解：

1. organization (n.) — 组织；机构

例句：Large organizations rely on formal systems.

2. boost (v.) — 提升；推动

例句：Managers try to boost productivity.

3. constant monitoring (n. phrase) — 持续监控

例句：Constant monitoring creates pressure.

4. metric (n.) — 指标；衡量标准

例句：Metrics simplify complex performance.

5. inadvertently (adv.) — 无意中；非本意地

例句：Policies can inadvertently cause harm.

6. undermine (v.) — 削弱；破坏

例句：Micromanagement undermines morale.

7. optimize for (v. phrase) — 为……而优化

例句：People optimize for incentives.

8. rather than (conj.) — 而不是

例句：Focus on outcomes rather than appearances.

9. broader goal (n. phrase) — 更宏观的目标

例句：Metrics should reflect broader goals.

10. be meant to (phrase) — 本应；原本是为了

例句：Rules are meant to guide behavior.