Question

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making it possible for companies to monitor workers’ behavior in great detail and in real time. Start to slack off (懈怠), and AI could talk to your boss.

One company offering such services is London-based start-up Status Today. Its AI platform relies on a regular supply of employee data, including everything from the files you access to when you use a key card. From this, it builds a picture of how employees normally function and signals any unusual performance. The idea is to spot when someone might become a security risk by doing something different from their usual behavioral patterns. “All of this gives us fingerprint of a user, so if we think the fingerprint doesn’t match, we raise a warning”, says Mircea Dumitrescu, the company’s chief technology officer.

The system also aims to catch employee actions that could accidentally cause a security breach (漏洞), like opening malware (恶意软件).“We’re not monitoring if your computer has a virus.” says Dumitrescu. “We’re monitoring human behaviors.”

But catching the security breach means monitoring everyone, and the AI can also be used to track employee productivity. “It seems like they are just using the reputation of AI to give an air of lawfulness to old-fashioned workplace surveillance (监视),” says Javier Ruiz Diaz of digital campaigning organization the Open Rights Group. “You have a right to privacy and you shouldn’t be expected to give that up at work.”

Exactly how companies use the system will be up to them, but it’s hard to shake the picture of an AI constantly looking over employees’ shoulders. “It will bother people, and that could be counterproductive if it affects their behavior,” says Paul Bemal at the University of East Anglia.

Phil Legg at the University of the West of England says it will never catch every security risk. “If people know they’re being monitored, they can change their behavior,” he says.

1.According to the text, AI monitors employees by ________.

A. taking pictures of them    B. getting access to their data

C. signaling their usual performance    D. catching their actions

2.What’s Javier Ruiz Diaz’s attitude towards the system?

A. Doubtful.    B. Supportive.

C. Uncaring.    D. Negative.

3.What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A. Security breach.    B. Employees’ productivity.

C. The right to privacy.    D. Workplace surveillance.

4.Phil Legg’s concern about the system suggests that ________.

A. it is too risky to be used at work

B. it will affect employees’ emotions

C. it may not be so effective as expected

D. it will encourage employee, productivity

Answer

1. B

2. D

3. C

4. C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，介绍了一家公司提供利用人工智能监控员工的服务，相关人士认为这种做法侵犯了员工的隐私权，也有人认为这种做法可能会适得其反。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段中的“One company offering such services is London-based start-up Status Today, Its AI platform relies on a regular supply of employee data,”可知，人工智能依赖于定期提供的员工数据来监控他们，故B项正确。

2.观点态度题。根据倒数第二段中的“It seems like they are just using the reputation of AI to give an air of lawfulness to old-fashioned workplace surveillance”可知，Javier Ruiz Diaz认为他们只是以人工智能之名给老式工作场所监控营造一种合法的氛围，由此可知Javier Ruiz Diaz对监控系统的态度是否定的，故D项正确。

3.代词指代题。根据画线词前的“You have a right to privacy and you shouldn’t be expected to give”可知，你有隐私权并且你不希望在工作中放弃这种权利，由此可知画线词指代的就是前面提到的“隐私权”，故C项正确。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“It will bother people, and that could be counterproductive if it affects their behavior”可知，Phil Legg认为监控系统会干扰人们，如果它影响人们的行为，它可能会适得其反，由此可知，Phil Legg的担忧表明监控系统可能没有预想的那么有效，故C项正确。