AstartupcompanyinCaliforniaisusingmachinelearningandarificialitelligencetoadvisefiredepartmentsabouthowtoplanforearthquakesandrespondtothem.Thecompanyhopesitsalgorithmscantakealotoftheguessworkoutoftheplanningprocessfordisasterresponsebymakingaccuratepredictionsaboutearthquakedamage.I'soneofahandfulofcompaniesrollingoutatificialitelligenceandmachinelearningsystemsthatcouldhelppredictandrespondtofoods,cyber-attacksandotherlarge-scaledisasters. NicoleHu,thecompany'schieftechnologyoflicer,saysthekeyistofeedthecomputersthreemamcategoriesofdata.Thefirstisdataabouthomesandotherbuildings,suchaswhatmaterialsthey'remadeof,whentheywerebuiltandhowlikelytheyaretocollapsewhenthegroundstartsshaking.Thenextcategoryisdataaboutthenaturalenvironments.Forexample."Whatisthesoillike"Whatistheelevationlike?Whatisthegeneralhumiditylike?"explainsHu.Thethirdthingwelookatisliveinstantdata."shesays,suchasthemagnitudeofthequake,thetraficintheareaofthequakeandtheweatheratthetimeofthequake.Thecomputerusestheinformationtomakepredictionsaboutwhatwouldhappenifanearthquakeoccurredinaparticulararea.Itthenusesdatafrompastearthquakestoseewhetheritspredictionsareanygood,andrevisesitspredictivemodelsaccordingly.Inotherwords,itlearnsasitgocs,whichisbasicallyhowmachinelearningworks. StanfordUniversityearthquakeengineerGregoryDeierleinconsultedforthecompany.Hesaysoneofthemostremarkablethingsaboutthecompany'ssoftwareisitsabilitytoincorporatedatafromanearthquakeasitshappening.andtoadjustitspredictionsinrealtime."Thosesortofthingsusedtoberesearchprojects."saysDeierlein"Afteranevent,wewouldcolleedataandafewyearslaterwe'dproducenewmodels."Nowthenewmodelsappearinamatterofminutes.Henotethecompany'sexactmethodsareopaque."Likemanystartupcompaniesthey'renotfullytransparentineverythingthey'redoing."Hesays.“Imean,that'stheirproprietaryknowledgethatthey'reproprietaryknowledgethatthey'rebringingtoit."Nonetheless,somefirstrespondersarealreadyconvincedthesoftwarewillbeuseful.FirechiefDanGhiorsoleadstheWoodsideFireProtectionDistrictnearSanFrancisco,whichcovers32squaremiles.TheSanAndrea'sfaultisonlyacouplehundredfeetbehindthefirehouse.Ghiorsosaysinthepast,whenanearthquakehit,he'dhavetomakeeducatedguessesaboutwhatpartsofhisdistrictmighthavesufferedthemostdamage,andthendrivetoeachplacetomakeavisualinspection.Hehopesthecompany'ssoftwarewillchangethat,althoughhehasyettoputittothetestduringanactualquake."Insteadofdrivingthitytwosquaremiles,infifteenminutesonacomputerIcangetagoodideaoftheconcerns."hesays,“insteadofme,takingmyeducatedguess,theyreputtingsciencebehindit,soI'mveryconfident."Unfortunately,it'sgoingtotakeanaturaldisastertoseeifhisconfidenceisjustified. Whatcanbethebesttitleofthepassage?
A.Using Artificial Intelligence to Guide Earthquake Response. B.Comparing Different Earthquake Predicting Software. C.Challenges for Making Accurate Predictions about Earthquakes. D.Causes of Naturally Occurring Earthquakes正确答案A
