你会捐献数据吗？

There is a saying that scientists would rather share their toothbrushes than their data. But we will all have to imagine more open and hygienic forms of data sharing if we are to make the most of this revolution.

有句老话说，科学家宁愿与人共用牙刷，也不愿意分享数据。但如果要充分利用这场革命，我们就必须设想更开放和更卫生的数据分享形式。

Data are emerging among the most important assets of the 21st century economy. Vast quantities of human- and machine-generated data, combined with ever more powerful computers and clever algorithms, are providing the feedstock for artificial intelligence systems and promising striking improvements in productivity. A country’s ability to exploit data in safe and creative ways will increasingly determine its success. It is high time for institutional innovation to encourage the process.

数据正成为21世纪经济最重要的资产之一。大量人工和机器生成的数据，加上越来越强大的电脑和聪明算法，正为人工智能系统提供原料并有望显著提高生产率。一个国家以安全和创造性的方式利用数据的能力，将在越来越大程度上决定其成功。是时候让制度创新鼓励这一进程。

For now, Pacific Rim companies, from the west coast of the US and the east coast of China, outstrip the rest of the tech industry. The likes of Google, Amazon, Alibaba, and Tencent are vacuuming up data and using them in inventive ways — to the delight of most consumers and the concern of some citizens worried about the concentration of corporate power and the erosion of privacy.

目前，环太平洋的公司(从美国西海岸到中国东部沿海地区)超越科技行业其他公司。谷歌(Google)、亚马逊(Amazon)、阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和腾讯(Tencent)正收集数据并以创新的方式利用数据，让多数消费者感到惊喜，也让一些公民对企业权力集中和隐私被削弱感到担忧。

Earlier this month, the UK government published an independent report by Professor Dame Wendy Hall and Jérôme Pesenti about how Britain could boost its own AI industry. Britain boasts an illustrious history in computing but risks becoming sub-scale in this emerging economy. The report made good suggestions for improving technical education, preserving the free movement of talented experts (a particular challenge after Brexit), and making government data readable by machines.

10月早些时候，英国政府发表了由温迪•霍尔(Wendy Hall)教授和杰罗姆•佩森蒂(Jérôme Pesenti)撰写的一份独立报告，内容是关于英国如何能促进本国人工智能行业的发展。英国拥有辉煌的计算历史，但有可能在新兴的人工智能经济领域成不了气候。报告提出了一些很好的建议，包括加强技术教育、保护专家人才的自由流动(这在英国退欧之后尤其具有挑战性)，以及让政府数据变得机器可读。

But the report’s most striking recommendation was to pioneer the creation of data trusts, a framework of agreements between government and industry to stimulate the secure and mutually beneficial exchange of data.

但报告最引人注目的建议是首创数据信托：政府与行业之间的一个协议框架，旨在推动安全和互利的数据交换。

It is a neat an idea in theory but it will be hard to implement in practice. Even Professor Hall admits: “There is a will to do it but not yet a way.”

这在理论上是一个高明的想法，但在实践中将很难落实。就连霍尔教授也承认：“目前有这么做的意愿，但还没有找到方法。”

The central idea would be for the government to work with independent institutions, such as the Royal Society and the Open Data Institute, to encourage the creation of robust arms-length mechanisms to share public and private sector data. That would help reassure data donors that their information was being used for the collective good rather than for private profit or government surveillance. But it would also give researchers and entrepreneurs access to exciting fresh seams of data.

中心设想是政府与独立机构合作，例如英国皇家学会(Royal Society)和开放数据研究所(Open Data Institute)，以鼓励创建稳健的半官方机制，分享公共和私营部门数据。这将有助于让数据捐献者放心：他们的信息将被用于集体利益，而不是用于牟取私利或政府监视。但这也将让研究人员和企业家获得令人兴奋的新数据源。

The report’s authors argue the public sector could benefit enormously in realms such as energy, healthcare, transport, and cyber security. Other experts suggest that regulators could incentivise companies, like Uber, to share anonymised data, helping urban planners, for example. Charitable research institutions, such as the Wellcome Trust, could encourage pharmaceutical companies to contribute “exhaust” data from failed clinical trials that could provide invaluable insights.

报告的作者们辩称，公共部门有望在能源、医疗、交通和网络安全等领域大大受益。其他专家提出，监管者可以鼓励优步(Uber)等公司分享经过匿名处理的数据，比如帮助城市规划者。维康信托(Wellcome Trust)等慈善研究机构可以鼓励制药公司贡献来自失败临床试验的“排出”数据，它们可能提供非常宝贵的洞见。

Sir Nigel Shadbolt, AI professor and co-founder of the ODI, says the aim should be to create “interested, disinterested institutions” to supervise such communal data assets. He cites the historic example of the Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, a charitable organisation dating back to the 1760s, set up to accredit and classify merchant ships for the benefit of all trading companies and insurers. Copyright libraries in the UK and Ireland have also been granted the right to obtain all published books for free to spread knowledge.

人工智能教授、英国开放数据研究所联合创始人奈杰尔•沙德博尔特爵士(Sir Nigel Shadbolt)表示，目标应该是创建“感兴趣且排除自身利益的机构”，来监管这些共享数据资产。他引用了可追溯到18世纪60年代的劳氏船级社(Lloyd’s Register of Shipping)这个具有历史意义的例子，这个慈善组织创建的目的是为所有贸易公司和保险公司服务，对商船进行认证和分类。英国和爱尔兰的版权图书馆也被授予免费获得所有已出版书籍的权利，以传播知识。

“We have been here before and have quite successfully established regimes where information has been made available for the common good in perpetuity,” he says. “The idea of creating data trusts is well worth pursuing.”

“我们以前曾经这么做过，并成功建立了制度，为了共同利益让信息永久可获取，”他表示，“创建数据信托的想法是非常值得探索的。”

Privacy and security are the most obvious obstacles. Anonymising data is more difficult than it sounds, particularly for health information. The EU’s sweeping General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into force in May and will be adopted by Britain, also imposes strict restrictions on data use. “GDPR is fantastically protective of people but potentially restrictive for research,” says Professor Hall.

隐私和安全是最明显的障碍。数据匿名化要比听上去更难，尤其是健康信息。欧盟覆盖面极广的《一般数据保护条例》(General Data Protection Regulation)——今年5月生效，英国将施行该条例——也对数据使用设置了严格限制。霍尔教授表示：“条例很好地保护了人们，但潜在可能限制研究。”

That may well put Europe at a further competitive disadvantage in the short term given looser accountability elsewhere. Companies in China, in particular, face few constraints on data use, either from government regulation or public concern.

鉴于其他司法管辖区的问责制度较为宽松，这很有可能会让欧洲在短期内处于进一步的竞争劣势。尤其是，中国企业在数据使用方面几乎没有受到任何制约，包括来自政府法规和公众担忧的制约。

But Jürgen Schmidhuber, professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Lugano, argues that safeguarding data rights may make good business sense over the longer term if it results in a more trusted infrastructure for data sharing. “Respect for privacy will be profitable one day,” he says.

但卢加诺大学(University of Lugano)人工智能教授于尔根•施密德胡伯(Jürgen Schmidhuber)辩称，如果带来更受信任的数据分享基础设施，那么保护数据权利可能会在较长期有利于商业。他表示：“终有一天，对隐私的尊重将带来盈利。”

john.thornhill@ft.com 译者/梁艳裳