MIT教授歧视言论被中国女生当场回击

近日，在加拿大举行的计算机顶级会议（Neural Information Processing Systems，NeurIPS）上，美国麻省理工学院（MIT）媒体实验室教授罗莎琳德·皮卡德（Rosalind Picard）在演讲中公开发表涉嫌针对中国人的歧视言论。

在后续的问答环节中，一位中国女学生当场与其对峙。

🤔️小作业：

1. From the responses of various academics and attendees, what broader issue does this incident underscore?

A) The difficulty of teaching AI ethics to students.

B) The prevalence of subtle racial and ethnic biases in academic communities.

C) The irrelevance of nationality in discussing academic integrity.

D) The need for stricter punishment for academic misconduct.

无注释原文：

NeurIPS keynote speaker apologizes for reference to Chinese student

From: TechCrunch

A speaker at the annual NeurIPS AI conference has drawn criticism — not for her opinions about AI, but for the way she referred to a Chinese student.

During her keynote presentation on “How to optimize what matters most,” MIT Media Lab professor Rosalind Picard (pictured above) included a slide quoting an excuse given by a “Chinese student who is now expelled from top university” for using AI, with the student supposedly saying, “Nobody at my school taught us morals or values.”

The slide also includes a note from Picard saying, “Most Chinese who I know are honest and morally upright.”

Google DeepMind scientist Jiao Sun shared a photo of the slide on X, writing, “Mitigating racial bias from LLMs is a lot easier than removing it from humans!” Yuandong Tian, a research scientist at Meta, reposted Sun's comment and added, “This is explicit racial bias. How could this happen in NeurIPS?”

In Q&A footage that was also shared on X, an attendee noted that this was the only time anyone's nationality was referenced in Picard's presentation, suggested that it was “a bit offensive,” and urged her to remove the reference if she gave the presentation again — a suggestion that Picard seemed to agree with.

Following the talk, NeurIPS organizers posted an apology, writing, “We want to address the comment made during the invited talk this afternoon, as it is something that NeurIPS does not condone and it doesn't align with our code of conduct. We are addressing this issue with the speaker directly. NeurIPS is dedicated to being a diverse and inclusive place where everyone is treated equally.”

Picard also apologized in a statement in which she expressed “regret” for mentioning the student's nationality.

“I see that this was unnecessary, irrelevant to the point I was making, and caused unintended negative associations,” Picard wrote. “I apologize for doing this and feel very badly about the distress that this incident has caused. I am learning from this experience, and I welcome ideas for how to try to make amends to the community.”

Chinese 'behaviour' remarks by MIT scientist Rosalind Picard rattle top AI conference

From: SCMP

A speech by an American scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during a top AI conference last week has sparked anger for comments that specified the Chinese nationality of a university student in an example of misbehaviour.

Rosalind Picard, a professor of health sciences and technology at the MIT Media Lab, was speaking during a keynote speech in Vancouver, Canada on Friday at NeurIPS 2024 – the 38th annual conference on neural information processing systems, during which she highlighted an incident involving a Chinese student who had been expelled.

According to Picard, the student – who was from a well-known school in China – tried to justify using AI for an assignment by explaining that “I did it to make my paper results look better. Nobody at my school taught us morals or values”.

“I was shocked to hear that they thought this was justifiable behaviour there,” Picard told the conference, adding that “most Chinese who I know are extremely honest and morally upright”.

During a Q&A session that followed, a Chinese attendee challenged Picard on her remarks, noting that it was the only time in the entire lecture where she explicitly mentioned nationality in relation to behaviour.

What Picard said “reflected a deeply troubling and racist view of Chinese scholars”, Furong Huang, an associate professor in the computer science department at the University of Maryland, remarked on social media, adding: “This was not just inappropriate but also profoundly disheartening.”

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

NeurIPS keynote speaker apologizes for reference to Chinese student

From: TechCrunch

A speaker at the annual NeurIPS AI conference has drawn criticism — not for her opinions about AI, but for the way she referred to a Chinese student.

在一年一度的NeurIPS人工智能大会上，一位演讲者招致了批评——不是因为她对人工智能的看法，而是因为她提及一位中国学生的方式。

During herkeynotepresentation on “How tooptimizewhat matters most,” MIT Media Lab professor Rosalind Picard (pictured above) included aslide quotingan excuse given by a “Chinese student who is nowexpelledfrom top university” for using AI, with the student supposedly saying, “Nobody at my school taught us morals or values.”

麻省理工学院（MIT）媒体实验室教授罗莎琳德·皮卡德（Rosalind Picard，如上图所示）在其题为“如何优化最重要的事情”的主题演讲中，展示了一张幻灯片，引用了一名“现已被顶尖大学开除的中国学生”为使用人工智能所找的借口，据这位学生说：“我的学校没有人教我们道德或价值观”。

keynote

keynote /ˈkiː.nəʊt/ 表示“要旨，主题，基调”，英文解释为“the most important or most emphasized part of something”如：a keynote address/speech/speaker (= an important talk/speaker at a formal meeting) 主要演说/发言/发言者，举个🌰：This issue has become the keynote of the election campaign. 这一问题已成为竞选活动的主题。

optimize

英式 optimise 美式 optimize /ˈɒp.tɪ.maɪz/ 表示“使优化，完善”，英文解释为“to make something as good as possible”举个🌰：We need to optimize our use of the existing technology. 我们需要充分利用现有技术。

slide

slide /slaɪd/ 作动词，表示“（使）滑动，（使）滑行”；作名词，表示“幻灯片”，英文解释为“a small piece of photographic film in a frame that, when light is passed through it, shows a larger image on a screen or plain surface”如：colour slides 彩色幻灯片。

quote

quote /kwəʊt/ 可以作名词，也可以作动词，表示“引用，引述，援引”，英文解释为“to repeat the words that someone else has said or written”举个🌰：He's always quoting from LearnAndRecord. 他总是引用《LearnAndRecord》上的内容。

📍听听力时有时候会听到「quote... unquote」指的就是“引文起…引文止”，英文解释为“said to show that you are repeating someone else's words, especially if you do not agree”，可以理解为念的是引号内的内容，举个🌰：She says they're quote "just good friends" unquote. 她说她们，引号，“只是好朋友而已”，引号完。

expel

expel /ɪkˈspel/ 1）表示“驱逐；除名；开除”，英文解释为“to force someone to leave a school, organization, or country”举个🌰：He was expelled from school for bad behaviour. 他因为行为不端被学校开除了。

2）表示“排出；喷出”，英文解释为“to force air or liquid out of something”举个🌰：She took a deep breath, then expelled the air in short blasts. 她深吸一口气，然后一下子把空气呼出来。

The slide also includes a note from Picard saying, “Most Chinese who I know are honest and morallyupright.”

幻灯片中还附有皮卡德的注释：“我认识的大多数中国人都是诚实且品行端正的。”

upright

upright /ˈʌp.raɪt 可以作形容词，也可以作副词，1）表示“诚实的；负责的；正直的”，英文解释为“honest, responsible, and moral”举个🌰：She behaved as any upright citizen would have under the circumstances. 她在这种情况下的做法和所有正直公民一样。

2）表示“竖直的；直立的；垂直的”，英文解释为“placed in a vertical position”举个🌰：Keep the bottle upright. 保持瓶子直立。

Google DeepMind scientist Jiao Sun shared a photo of the slide on X, writing, “Mitigatingracialbiasfrom LLMs is a lot easier than removing it from humans!” Yuandong Tian, a research scientist at Meta, reposted Sun's comment and added, “This is explicit racial bias. How could this happen in NeurIPS?”

谷歌DeepMind科学家Jiao Sun在X平台上分享了这张幻灯片的照片，并写道：“消除大语言模型（LLM）的种族偏见比消除人类的种族偏见容易得多！” Meta公司研究科学家田渊栋转发了该帖子，并补充说：“这是明显的种族偏见。这怎么可能发生在NeurIPS会议上？”

mitigate

mitigate /ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/ 表示“减轻，缓解，缓和”，英文解释为“to make a situation or the effects of something less unpleasant, harmful, or serious”举个🌰：Measures need to be taken to mitigate the environmental effects of burning more coal. 需要采取措施来减轻燃煤增加对环境造成的影响。

📍词根“mitig-”来自拉丁语“mitigare”，意味着“使柔和”，表示通过某种措施减轻不良影响或状况。近义词：alleviate（缓解），同根词：mitigation（缓解），常用短语：mitigate a problem（减轻问题）

bias

bias /ˈbaɪ.əs/ 作名词，表示“偏见；偏心；偏向”，英文解释为“a strong feeling in favour of or against one group of people, or one side in an argument, often not based on fair judgement”举个🌰：Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias. 雇主必须公平而毫无成见地考虑所有求职者。

作动词，表示“使…怀有偏见”，英文解释为“to cause someone or something to have a bias”举个🌰：The judge ruled that the information should be withheld on the grounds that it would bias the jury against the accused. 法官因该材料会导致陪审团产生不利于被告的偏见而责令将其收回。

biased，形容词，表示“偏袒一方的；有偏见的；倾向性的；片面的”，英文解释为“showing an unreasonable like or dislike for a person based on personal opinions”如：biased information/sources/press reports 片面的信息/消息来源/新闻报道。

In Q&Afootagethat was also shared on X, an attendee noted that this was the only time anyone's nationality wasreferencedin Picard's presentation, suggested that it was “a bit offensive,” and urged her to remove the reference if she gave the presentation again — a suggestion that Picard seemed to agree with.

在X上分享的问答视频中，一位与会者指出，这是皮卡德的演讲中唯一一次提及国籍，认为这“有点冒犯”，并建议她如果再做演讲就去掉这个提法——皮卡德似乎接受了这一建议。

footage

footage /ˈfʊt.ɪdʒ/ 表示“（描述某一事件的）片段镜头”，英文解释为“Footage of a particular event is a film of it or the part of a film which shows this event.”举个🌰：They are planning to show exclusive footage from this summer's festivals. 他们计划独家播放今年夏季节日活动的片断镜头。

补充：

📍closed-circuit footage指的是监控录像画面；📍CCTV：此CCTV非彼CCTV，其中的CC就是Closed Circuit的缩写，TV就是电视Television的缩写。

reference

reference /ˈref.ər.əns/ 可作动词，也可作名词，1）表示“提到；谈到；论及”，英文解释为“a mention of something”举个🌰：Knowing what had happened, I avoided making any reference to (= mentioning) weddings. 因为我知道发生了什么，所以就避开不谈婚礼的事儿。

2）表示“引文出处；参考书目；参考文献”，英文解释为“a writer or a book, article, etc. that is mentioned in a piece of writing, showing you where particular information was found”

Following the talk, NeurIPS organizers posted an apology, writing, “We want to address the comment made during the invited talk this afternoon, as it is something that NeurIPS does notcondoneand it doesn'talignwith ourcode of conduct. We are addressing this issue with the speaker directly. NeurIPS is dedicated to being adiverseandinclusiveplace where everyone is treated equally.”

演讲结束后，NeurIPS大会主办方发布了一份道歉声明，写道：“我们想就今天下午特邀嘉宾演讲中发表的评论做出回应，因为这是NeurIPS所不能容忍的，也不符合我们的行为准则。我们正在与演讲者直接沟通此事。NeurIPS致力于成为一个多元化和包容性的平台，在这里，每个人都受到平等对待。”

condone

condone /kənˈdəʊn/ 表示“宽恕，饶恕；纵容；包容，容忍”，英文解释为“to accept or allow behaviour that is wrong”举个🌰：I have never encouraged nor condoned violence. 我从来没有鼓励或纵容过暴力行为。

align

align /əˈlaɪn/ 1）表示“排整齐；校准；（尤指）使成一条直线”，英文解释为“to arrange sth in the correct position, or to be in the correct position, in relation to sth else, especially in a straight line”举个🌰：Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard. 务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

2）表示“使一致”，英文解释为“to change sth slightly so that it is in the correct relationship to sth else”举个🌰：Prices have been aligned with those in world markets. 价格已调整到与世界市场一致。

code of conduct

表示“行为准则”，英文解释为“ The code of conduct for a group or organization is an agreement on rules of behaviour for the members of that group or organization.”

📍conduct作名词，表示“行为，举止”（a person's behaviour in a particular place or in a particular situation），如：优良作风 fine conduct或者说excellent conduct。

📍2020年报告Part 2中提到：加强党风廉政建设 improve Party conduct and build a clean government.

📍2021年报告Part 18中提到：深入推进党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争，We will work harder to improve Party conduct, ensure clean government, and root out corruption,

diverse

diverse /daɪˈvɜːs/ 表示“多种多样的，形形色色的”，英文解释为“including many different types of people or things”举个🌰：New York is a very culturally/ethnically diverse city. 纽约是一个在文化/种族方面具有多样性的城市。

inclusive

inclusive /ɪnˈkluː.sɪv/ 表示“兼收并蓄；包容的；包容广阔的，范围广泛的”，英文解释为“If you describe a group or organization as inclusive, you mean that it allows all kinds of people to belong to it, rather than just one kind of person.”举个🌰：The academy is far more inclusive now than it used to be. 该学院如今比过去更为兼收并蓄。

📍gender-inclusive“性别中立，不分性别”。

Picard also apologized in a statement in which she expressed “regret” for mentioning the student's nationality.

皮卡德也在一份声明中表示了歉意，她对提及这名学生的国籍表示“懊悔”。

“I see that this was unnecessary, irrelevant to the point I was making, and caused unintended negative associations,” Picard wrote. “I apologize for doing this and feel very badly about the distress that this incident has caused. I am learning from this experience, and I welcome ideas for how to try to makeamendsto the community.”

“我意识到这样做是不必要的，与我所表达的观点无关，而且引起了不必要的负面联想，”皮卡德写道。“我为此道歉，并对此事造成的困扰感到非常难过。我会从这次经历中吸取教训，也欢迎大家就如何弥补这一事件带来的影响提出建议。”

make amends

make amends /əˈmendz/ 表示“赔礼道歉，赔不是；作出补偿”，英文解释为“to do something good to show that you are sorry about something you have done”举个🌰：She tried to make amends by inviting him out to dinner. 她试图请他出去吃顿饭，借此向他赔个不是。

Chinese 'behaviour' remarks by MIT scientist Rosalind Picardrattletop AI conference

From: SCMP

A speech by an American scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during a top AI conference last week hassparkedanger for comments thatspecifiedthe Chinese nationality of a university student in an example of misbehaviour.

上周，麻省理工学院（MIT）的一位美国科学家在一场顶级人工智能会议上的演讲引发了人们的愤怒，原因是她在以某位大学生行为不端为例时特别提及该学生是中国人。

rattle

rattle /ˈrætəl/ 1）表示“使慌乱，使紧张”，英文解释为“to make someone lose confidence or become nervous (informal)”举个🌰：His mocking smile rattled her more than his anger. 他那种嘲讽的微笑比他的愤怒更让她慌乱。

2）表示“（使）发出咔嗒咔嗒的声音”，英文解释为“to make a series of short loud sounds when hitting against sth hard; to make sth do this”举个🌰：Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

spark

spark /spɑːk/ 表示“引发”，英文解释为“If one thing sparks another, the first thing causes the second thing to start happening.”举个🌰：My teacher organized a unit on computer science that really sparked my interest. 我的老师编排了一个关于计算机科学的单元，它真正激发了我的兴趣。

此前，《后浪》和「青年」文中标题中就用到：Bilibili's May 4th Youth Day video sparks discussion on social media 引发热议。

类似的还有：

📍stir表示“激发，激起（强烈的感情）；引起（强烈的反应）”，英文解释为“to make someone have a strong feeling or reaction”举个🌰：The poem succeeds in stirring the imagination. 这首诗能够激发起想象力。

📍provoke也表示“激起，引起”，英文解释为“to cause a reaction or feeling, especially a sudden one”，如：provoke debate/discussion 激起辩论/讨论。

📍spur 鼓动；激励；鞭策；刺激；鼓舞”，英文解释为“If one thing spurs you to do another, it encourages you to do it.”举个🌰：It's the money that spurs these fishermen to risk a long ocean journey in their flimsy boats. 是金钱驱使这些渔民驾驶单薄的小船冒险出海远航。

🎬电影《龙之心3：巫师的诅咒》（Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse）中的台词提到：To spur the clans to war. 激励部族发起战争。

📍trigger表示“发动；引起；触发”，英文解释为“to make sth happen suddenly”举个🌰：Nuts can trigger off a violent allergic reaction. 坚果可以引起严重的过敏反应。

specify

specify /ˈspes.ɪ.faɪ/ 表示“具体说明；明确指出”，英文解释为“to explain or describe something clearly and exactly”举个🌰：He said we should meet but didn't specify a time. 他说我们应该见见面，但没说具体时间。

Rosalind Picard, a professor of health sciences and technology at the MIT Media Lab, was speaking during a keynote speech in Vancouver, Canada on Friday at NeurIPS 2024 – the 38th annual conference onneuralinformation processing systems, during which she highlighted an incident involving a Chinese student who had been expelled.

上周五，麻省理工学院媒体实验室健康科学与技术教授罗莎琳德·皮卡德（Rosalind Picard）在加拿大温哥华参加第38届神经信息处理系统年度会议（NeurIPS 2024）并发表了主题演讲。在演讲中，她特别提到了一位因违规而被开除的中国学生。

neural

neural /ˈnjʊə.rəl/ 表示“神经的；神经系统的”，英文解释为“involving a nerve or the system of nerves that includes the brain”举个🌰：Some people suffered severe neural damage as a result of the disease. 有些人罹患这种疾病后神经受到严重损伤。

According to Picard, the student – who was from a well-known school in China – tried tojustifyusing AI for an assignment by explaining that “I did it to make my paper results look better. Nobody at my school taught us morals or values”.

据皮卡德称，这名来自中国某知名学校的学生试图为自己在作业中使用人工智能辩解，称：“我这样做是为了让我的论文结果看起来更好。我们学校没有人教我们道德或价值观。”

justify

justify /ˈdʒʌs.tɪ.faɪ/ 表示“为…辩护；证明…正当（或有理、正确）；是…的正当理由”，英文解释为“to give or to be a good reason for”举个🌰：I can't really justify taking another day off work. 我真的找不出理由再多休一天假了。

📍词根“just-”表示“公正”，“-ify”表示“使成为”。近义词：defend（辩护），同根词：justice（正义），常用短语：justify oneself（为自己辩护）

“I was shocked to hear that they thought this was justifiable behaviour there,” Picard told the conference, adding that “most Chinese who I know are extremely honest and morally upright”.

“得知他们认为这种行为是合理的，我感到非常震惊，”皮卡德在会上说，并补充道，“我认识的大多数中国人都是诚实且品行端正的。”

During a Q&A session that followed, a Chinese attendee challenged Picard on her remarks, noting that it was the only time in the entire lecture where she explicitly mentioned nationality in relation to behaviour.

在随后的问答环节中，一位中国与会者对皮卡德的言论提出质疑，指出这是她在整场演讲中唯一一次明确提及国籍与行为之间的关联。

What Picard said “reflected a deeply troubling and racist view of Chinese scholars”, Furong Huang, an associate professor in the computer science department at the University of Maryland, remarked on social media, adding: “This was not just inappropriate but also profoundlydisheartening.”

马里兰大学计算机科学系副教授Furong Huang在社交媒体上评论说，皮卡德的言论“反映了对中国学者的一种令人深感不安的种族主义观点”，“这不仅不合适，而且令人极度失望。”

disheartening

disheartening /dɪsˈhɑː.tən.ɪŋ/ 表示“令人失望的，令人沮丧的，令人消沉的”，英文解释为“causing you to lose confidence, hope, and energy”举个🌰：This was very disheartening news. 这是一个非常令人沮丧的消息。

- 词汇盘点 -

keynote、 optimize、 slide、 quote、 expel、 upright、 mitigate、 bias、 footage、 reference、 condone、 align、 code of conduct、 diverse、 inclusive、 make amends、 rattle、 spark、 specify、 neural、 justify、 disheartening

- 词汇助记 By ChatGPT -

At the keynote, a slide and quote spark neural insights. To mitigate bias, specify diverse, inclusive references. Optimize code of conduct, align upright behavior, condone none. Rattle attendees with disheartening footage, justify reforms, make amends, expel wrongdoing.

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