Living with artificial intelligence: reading answers and analysis
If AI reaches and then passes human-level general intelligence, its goals must be set with great care (remember King Midas), and it will have to be more ethical than we are. That raises two problems: telling machines what 'good' is when we disagree ourselves, and accepting moral machines that limit our freedom. The NHS shows these questions are already here.
Questions 14-26 · 13 marks · 3 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The multiple choice (14-19) goes through the first six paragraphs, one each. YES / NO / NOT GIVEN (20-23) covers G, H and J. The summary (24-26) is the NHS example in I.
Questions 14-19
Each question names a paragraph and asks for its main point. The first says narrow AI's limits are temporary. The second explains why machines will outperform brains. Midas illustrates badly specified goals, and the fourth paragraph sets the challenge of making AI friendlier than us. The fifth says machines will be ethically superior, and the sixth says our own flaws make the job harder.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | C | — |
| 15 | A | — |
| 16 | B | — |
| 17 | D | — |
| 18 | C | — |
| 19 | D | — |
Questions 20-23
G supports the first statement: moral machines might stop us favouring our own communities. H gives the NO, because few people would welcome ethical silicon police. The passage says nothing about how many silicon police would be needed. J says it will take a cooperative spirit.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | YES | — |
| 21 | NOT GIVEN | — |
| 22 | NO | — |
| 23 | YES | — |
Questions 24-26
Match meaning, not words. 'How resources are used' becomes resources being allocated. Senior doctors become medical practitioners. The 'control they presently enjoy' becomes professional authority.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | C | — |
| 25 | A | — |
| 26 | E | — |
The questions most people get wrong
C. 'This restriction is very temporary' means AI's capabilities won't stay limited. A tempts, but the writer is fairly confident about the timescale (by mid-century).
D. The problem is that we aren't reliably human-friendly ourselves, so AI must do better than us. B (deciding which values) is the 'getting started' problem in F, not this paragraph.
E (professional authority). Doctors would lose 'the control they presently enjoy'. 'Specialised tasks' is from the first paragraph and is a distractor here.
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The full Cambridge 18 Test 2 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 18, Test 2, Reading Passage 2. The passage name belongs to Cambridge University Press. No passage text or question wording is reproduced on this page. The answers are published for self-marking, and the analysis is our own.