Translated by Claude, edited by Sinocism.com

Original title: 让技术永远成为人的工具 | Author: Wen Ping (文平), commentary pen name

Source: Qiushi (求是), 2026 Issue 14, July 15, 2026

Original link: https://www.qstheory.cn/20260715/8c44ab0d41524d7c9e8180e0e4831a0d/c.html

Large language models are redefining the possibilities of human-machine interaction; embodied intelligence gives machines a unity of perception and action; multimodal large models achieve a deep fusion of audio-visual perception and reasoning…… These scenes, once found only in science fiction, are gradually becoming living reality. As a strategic technology leading a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, artificial intelligence is, with unprecedented breadth and depth, profoundly reshaping the global innovation landscape, development paradigms, and the ways humans produce and live.

大语言模型重新定义人机交互的可能，具身智能让机器获得感知与行动的统一，多模态大模型实现视听与推理的深度融合……这些曾经只存在于科幻小说中的场景，正在逐渐成为活生生的现实。作为引领新一轮科技革命和产业变革的战略性技术，人工智能正以前所未有的广度和深度，深刻重构全球创新版图、发展范式和人类生产生活方式。

Yet in the course of this rapid development, some worries worth heeding are gradually surfacing: as artificial intelligence's predictive power grows ever more refined, will people abandon independent judgment and submit to the algorithm's output? As the efficiency of intelligent systems keeps rising, will human labor be reduced to an appendage of data annotation and process optimization? When machine-generated text, images, and even video can pass for real, how should the real and the fabricated be told apart in the digital world? Behind these various worries lies a proposition ancient yet ever-new — is technology, in the end, in the service of humans, or do humans submit to technology?

然而，在技术快速发展的进程中，一些值得关注的忧虑逐渐显现：当人工智能预测能力日益精进，人是否会放弃自主判断而屈从于算法的输出？当智能系统的效率不断提升，人的劳动是否会沦为数据标注与流程优化的附庸？当机器生成的文本、图像乃至视频足以以假乱真，真实与虚构在数字世界中应该如何甄别？种种忧虑背后，是一个古老而常新的命题——究竟是技术服务于人，还是人屈从于技术？

As a powerful engine propelling the age forward, artificial intelligence undoubtedly merits our embrace with open arms. But while enjoying the technological dividend, we must also stay clear-headed and vigilant toward the rhetoric that places it on a pedestal. At present, some views excessively inflate the status and role of algorithms, data, and computing power, even treating them as the standard for decision-making and holding that algorithms can and should dominate commercial logic, social operation, and institutional design. Traced to its source, this cognitive bias that regards technology as the decisive force springs from the historical context in which, since the Industrial Revolution, technology has profoundly reshaped humanity's mode of existence; it is rooted in the modern thinking paradigm that takes efficiency as its measure, and is yet another echo of Western instrumental rationalism in the era of the new technological revolution. In fact, in Marx's view, the machine is the objectification of humanity's essential powers, a tool for extending human capacities and liberating human labor — it should not be alienated into a force that dominates humans. This assertion of more than a century ago is like a mirror crossing time and space, profoundly reflecting and revealing that however exquisite the algorithm, however vast the computing cluster, however complex the model architecture, the essence of artificial intelligence remains materialized labor and an extension of human intellect.

人工智能作为推动时代前行的强大引擎，无疑值得我们张开双臂拥抱。但在享受技术红利的同时，也要对那种将其捧上神坛的论调保持清醒和警惕。当前，有的观点过分拔高算法、数据、算力的地位作用，甚至将其视为决策标准，认为算法能够且应当主导商业逻辑、社会运转和制度设计。追根溯源，这种将技术视为决定性力量的认知偏差，源自工业革命以来技术深刻重塑人类生存方式的历史语境，扎根于现代性以效率为尺度的思维范式，是西方工具理性主义在新技术革命时代的又一次回响。事实上，在马克思看来，机器是人的本质力量的对象化，是延伸人的能力、解放人的劳动的工具，而不应异化为主宰人的力量。一百多年前的这一主张，犹如一面穿越时空的明镜，深刻映照和揭示了无论算法多么精妙、算力集群多么庞大、模型架构多么复杂，人工智能的本质依然是物化劳动与人类智力的延伸。

While the rapid development of technology improves human life, drives industrial leaps, and brings commercial prosperity, it also brings the problem of the dissolution of human subjectivity. Once the logic of technology is internalized as the default framework for perceiving the world, understanding oneself, and forming relationships, people are unknowingly incorporated into technology's disciplinary system: "parameters" become the sole language for describing growth, the "user profile" replaces an appreciation of others' complexity, and the "input-output ratio" quietly seeps into the very fabric of emotional bonds. The deeper danger is that when artificial intelligence holds the decision-making power over information distribution, resource allocation, and the apportioning of opportunity, while the ordinary public can neither understand nor question its operating logic, people are no longer the masters of technology but are reduced to data nodes and objects of computation; society is no longer the organic connection of a community but becomes a giant testing ground for algorithmic optimization. Clearing up the myth of this rhetoric, therefore, is by no means needless worry (an allusion to 杞人忧天, the man of Qi who feared the sky would fall) but a question that must be answered to guard the bottom line of human civilization and ensure that technology develops toward the good.

技术迅猛发展在改善人类生活、推动产业跃升、繁荣商业经济的同时，也带来了人的主体性消解的问题。一旦将技术逻辑内化为感知世界、理解自我、建立关系的默认框架，人便在不知不觉中被纳入技术的规训体系：“参数”成为描述成长的唯一语言，“用户画像”取代了对他人复杂性的体认，“投入产出比”悄然渗透进情感联结的肌理。更深层的危险在于，当人工智能掌握信息分发、资源调配与机会分配的决策权，而普通公众对其运作逻辑无从理解、无力质疑时，人就不再是技术的主人，而沦为数据节点和计算对象；社会就不再是共同体的有机联结，而变成算法优化的巨型试验场。因此，廓清这一论调迷思，绝非杞人忧天，而是守护人类文明底线、确保技术向善发展的必答题。

At present, the speed of artificial intelligence's iteration, the breadth of its penetration, and the depth of its impact far exceed those of any previous technological revolution; absent effective value guidance and institutional constraint, "technology for good" can only remain a slogan. In response, we should improve top-level institutional design and accelerate the establishment of the relevant system of laws and regulations, building a clear normative framework at key links such as data collection, algorithmic decision-making, and model evaluation, so as to meet the uncertainty that technological evolution brings to human society with institutional certainty. We should build an ethics-review mechanism covering the whole life cycle of technology R&D, product deployment, and scenario application, embedding a people-centered value orientation into every node of artificial intelligence development, so that technological development always runs on a track that is traceable, explainable, and accountable. We should press home the primary responsibility of enterprises, clarify the ethical bottom lines and legal boundaries of platforms and developers, and establish effective accountability mechanisms to prevent the abuse of technology from harming public rights and interests or dissolving people's status as subjects. At the same time, we should vigorously raise the whole population's digital literacy and capacity to understand artificial intelligence, helping the public grasp the logic of technology and strengthen their discernment of algorithmic recommendation, so that people retain clear judgment and autonomous choice in the intelligent age. In a word, the more powerful the technology and the more precise the algorithm, the more promptly institutional norms must keep pace. Only by continuously weaving ever tighter a web of institutions that are people-centered and oriented toward intelligence-for-good can we ensure that artificial intelligence truly becomes a positive force that benefits humanity and promotes people's free and all-round development.

当前，人工智能技术迭代速度之快、渗透范围之广、影响程度之深，远超以往任何一次技术革命，若缺乏有效价值引导和制度约束，技术向善便只能停留在口号层面。对此，应完善顶层制度设计，加快健全相关法律法规体系，在数据采集、算法决策、模型评估等关键环节建立起清晰的规范框架，以制度的确定性应对技术演进给人类社会带来的不确定性。应构建覆盖技术研发、产品部署、场景应用全生命周期的伦理审查机制，将以人为本的价值导向嵌入人工智能发展的每一个节点，使技术发展始终运行在可追溯、可解释、可问责的轨道之上。应压实企业主体责任，明确平台与开发者的伦理底线和法律边界，建立有效的追责机制，防止技术滥用侵害公众权益、消解人的主体地位。同时，应大力提升全民数字素养与人工智能认知能力，帮助公众理解技术逻辑、增强对算法推荐的辨识力，让人在智能时代保持清醒的判断力和自主的选择权。一言以蔽之，技术越是强大、算法越是精密，制度规范就越要及时跟进。不断织密以人为本、智能向善的制度之网，才能确保人工智能真正成为造福人类、促进人的自由全面发展的积极力量。

It must be emphasized that dispelling the myth that "algorithms are omnipotent" is by no means to move to the opposite side of technology, but to clarify profoundly the proper relationship between humans and technology and let technology return to its place as a tool. Here, China's fine traditional culture holds rich intellectual resources. The Book of Changes says, "what is above form is called the Way; what is below form is called the implement" (《周易·系辞》, 形而上者谓之道，形而下者谓之器). When the Way governs the implement, the implement can be put to full use; when the implement replaces the Way, the Way ceases to exist — this "distinction between Way and implement" is precisely the traditional wisdom for understanding the relationship between humans and technology. Zhuangzi's Cook Ding, carving an ox "meeting it with the spirit rather than looking with the eyes" (庖丁解牛, from the Zhuangzi), vividly depicts holding the implement in hand while keeping the Way in the heart, Way and implement fused as one. When the Song people made porcelain, they sought not only ingenuity of form but valued still more its character — warm and lustrous as jade, serene and unadorned; this is precisely "the implement carrying the Way." When Song Yingxing of the Ming wrote The Exploitation of the Works of Nature (《天工开物》), the very title proclaims that the true realm of craft lies in reverence for and adherence to the Way of Heaven and humanity. What the "distinction between Way and implement" ultimately points to is the subject-status of the human being. Confucius said "the gentleman is not a vessel" (君子不器, from the Analects), meaning the gentleman should not, like a utensil, be limited in function to a single aspect, but should cultivate broad knowledge and virtue; Qu Yuan sighed, "long, long is the road and far, far the way" (路漫漫其修远兮, from Li Sao), an unceasing pursuit of spiritual value; Tao Yuanming's "picking chrysanthemums by the eastern hedge" (采菊东篱下) shows a stance of life beyond utilitarian calculation. These spiritual genes, deeply rooted in the bloodline of the Chinese nation, remind us that what makes a human human lies not only in the level of efficiency but in whether one can preserve the capacity for independent thought, feel the warmth of life, and inquire into life's meaning. The ultimate significance of technology, too, lies not merely in the endless raising of efficiency but in whether it can enhance human virtue, nourish human emotion, and fulfill human life. In short, technology should be the extension of human capacity, not a substitute for human existence; the expansion of human freedom, not the dissolution of human subjectivity.

需要强调的是，破除“算法无所不能”的迷思，绝不是要走向技术的对立面，而是要深刻厘清人与技术之间的应有关系，让技术回归工具的位置。这方面，中华优秀传统文化蕴含着丰富的思想资源。《周易》有言，“形而上者谓之道，形而下者谓之器”。以道驭器，器方能尽其用；以器代道，则道将不存焉——这一“道器之辨”，正是理解人与技术关系的传统智慧。庄子笔下庖丁解牛“以神遇而不以目视”，形象描绘了既持器在手又秉道于心、道与器浑然一体的生动画面。宋人制瓷，不唯求器形之工巧，更重其温润如玉、静穆素雅的品格，这正是器以载道。明代宋应星著《天工开物》，其书名本身即昭示，真正的工艺境界在于对天人之道的敬畏与追随。“道器之辨”最终指向的，是人的主体地位。孔子讲“君子不器”，意指君子不应像器具那样，作用仅仅限于某一方面，而应涵养通识与德性；屈原叹“路漫漫其修远兮”，是对精神价值的不懈求索；陶渊明“采菊东篱下”，展现的是超越功利的生命姿态。这些深植于中华民族血脉中的精神基因提醒我们：人之为人的根本，不只是在于效率的高低，更在于能否保持独立思考的能力、感受生活的温度、追问生命的意义。技术的终极意义，也不仅仅在于效率的无限提升，更在于能否增益人的德性、滋养人的情感、成全人的生命。要言之，技术应当是人的能力的延伸，而非人的存在的替代；应当是人的自由的拓展，而非人的主体性的消解。

On July 8, 2026, at the National Science and Technology Award Conference, the conferences of the two academies (the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering), and the 11th National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence are iterating and being applied at an accelerating pace, and their 'double-edged sword' effect is increasingly evident," stressing the need to "coordinate development and security, closely track the development trends of new technologies and new applications, strengthen the building of the science and technology governance system and capacity, and promote science and technology that is upward-facing and good, safe and controllable, and beneficial to the people." This important requirement contains a profound insight into technological development and manifests the value orientation of making technology benefit humanity. Today, amid the surging tide of digitalization and intelligence, we should all the more cherish, protect, and carry forward the human factor, letting human emotion, human thought, and human creativity forever be the master of artificial intelligence, and letting technology forever remain a tool of humans.

2026年7月8日，在国家科学技术奖励大会、两院院士大会、中国科协第十一次全国代表大会上，习近平总书记指出，“人工智能等前沿技术加速迭代应用，‘双刃剑’效应日益显现”，强调要“统筹发展和安全，密切跟踪新技术新应用发展态势，加强科技治理体系和能力建设，推动科技向上向善、安全可控、造福人民”。这一重要要求，蕴含着对技术发展的深刻洞察，彰显了让技术为人类造福的价值取向。今天，置身汹涌澎湃的数智化浪潮，应倍加珍惜、爱护、发扬人的因素，让人的情感、人的思想、人的创造永远成为人工智能的主宰，让技术永远成为人的工具。