Cambridge IELTS 18 · Academic · Test 2 · Passage 2
Living With Artificial Intelligence — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Living With Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge IELTS 18 Academic Reading Test 2 Passage 2, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Living With Artificial Intelligence answer key at a glance
Questions 14–26. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with One Choice (Q14–19), Yes / No / Not Given (Q20–23), Summary Completion (Q24–26). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 14–19: One Choice
Strategy: Read the question stem and predict the answer before looking at the options. Wrong options often repeat passage words while the correct one paraphrases them.
What point does the writer make about AI in the first paragraph?
- AIt is difficult to predict how quickly AI will progress.
- BMuch can be learned about the use of AI in chess machines.
- CThe future is unlikely to see limitations on the capabilities of AI.correct
- DExperts disagree on which specialised tasks AI will be able to perform.
“That’s yesterday’s news, what’s next? True, these prodigious accomplishments are all in so-called narrow AI, where machines perform highly specialised tasks. But many experts believe this restriction is very temporary.”
The writer says the narrow-AI restriction is 'very temporary' and that by mid-century we may have AGI, implying no likely limit on AI's capabilities, so C.
What is the writer doing in the second paragraph?
- Aexplaining why machines will be able to outperform humanscorrect
- Bdescribing the characteristics that humans and machines share
- Cgiving information about the development of machine intelligence
- Dindicating which aspects of humans are the most advanced
“If so, there’s little reason to think it will stop there. Machines will be free of many of the physical constraints on human intelligence.”
The second paragraph argues machines 'will be free of many of the physical constraints on human intelligence', explaining why they can outperform humans, so A.
Why does the writer mention the story of King Midas?
- Ato compare different visions of progress
- Bto illustrate that poorly defined objectives can go wrongcorrect
- Cto emphasise the need for cooperation
- Dto point out the financial advantages of a course of action
“Folklore is full of tales of people who ask for the wrong thing, with disastrous consequences- King Midas, for example, might have wished that everything he touched turned to gold, but didn’t really intend this to apply to his breakfast.”
King Midas asked for the wrong thing 'with disastrous consequences', illustrating that badly defined objectives can go wrong, so B.
What challenge does the writer refer to in the fourth paragraph?
- Aencouraging humans to behave in a more principled way
- Bdeciding which values we want AI to share with us
- Ccreating a better world for all creatures on the planet
- Densuring AI is more human-friendly than we are ourselvescorrect
“So we need to create powerful AI machines that are ‘human-friendly’- that have goals reliably aligned with our own values. One thing that makes this task difficult is that we are far from reliably human-friendly ourselves.”
The challenge is creating machines that are 'human-friendly' with goals aligned to our values, hard because 'we are far from reliably human-friendly ourselves', so D.
What does the writer suggest about the future of AI in the fifth paragraph?
- AThe safety of machines will become a key issue.
- BIt is hard to know what impact machines will have on the world.
- CMachines will be superior to humans in certain respects.correct
- DMany humans will oppose machines having a wider role.
“we want the machines to be ethically as well as cognitively superhuman. We want them to aim for the moral high ground, not for the troughs in which many of us spend some of our time. Luckily they’ll be smart enough for the job.”
The fifth paragraph wants machines 'ethically as well as cognitively superhuman' and 'better than us' at finding the moral high ground, so C.
Which of the following best summarises the writer’s argument in the sixth paragraph?
- AMore intelligent machines will result in greater abuses of power.
- BMachine learning will share very few features with human learning.
- CThere are a limited number of people with the knowledge to program machines.
- DHuman shortcomings will make creating the machines we need more difficult.correct
“The ‘getting started’ problem is that we need to tell the machines what they’re looking for with sufficient clarity that we can be confident they will find it – whatever ‘it’ actually turns out to be. This won’t be easy, given that we are tribal creatures and conflicted about the ideals ourselves.”
The 'getting started' problem is telling machines what to seek, hard because 'we are tribal creatures and conflicted about the ideals ourselves', so human flaws obstruct the task, D.
Questions 20–23: Yes / No / Not Given
Strategy: These test the writer's opinions, not facts. Look for evaluative language, and treat 'may' or 'could' as weaker than the question's claim.
Machines with the ability to make moral decisions may prevent us from promoting the interests of our communities.
“Machines who are better than us at sticking to the moral high ground may be expected to discourage some of the lapses we presently take for granted. We might lose our freedom to discriminate in favour of our own communities, for example.”
The text warns that 'we might lose our freedom to discriminate in favour of our own communities', which is preventing us from promoting our communities' interests, so YES.
Silicon police would need to exist in large numbers in order to be effective.
“But are we ready for ethical silicon police limiting our options?”
The passage only asks whether we are ready for 'ethical silicon police'; it never discusses how many such machines would be needed to be effective.
Many people are comfortable with the prospect of their independence being restricted by machines.
“They might be so good at doing it that we won’t notice them; but few of us are likely to welcome such a future.”
The statement says many people are comfortable, but the text says 'few of us are likely to welcome such a future', a direct contradiction.
If we want to ensure that machines act in our best interests, we all need to work together.
“It is not yet clear whether this is possible, but if it is, it will require a cooperative spirit, and a willingness to set aside self-interest.”
The text says achieving this 'will require a cooperative spirit, and a willingness to set aside self-interest', matching the need for everyone to work together.
Questions 24–26: Summary Completion
Strategy: Read the summary as a paragraph first to establish the logic, then locate the missing idea in the passage. With a lettered list, confirm the grammar fits.
“AI already has some input into how resources are used in our National Health Service (NHS) here in the UK, for example.”
The gap needs the institution already using AI to allocate resources; 'how resources are used in our National Health Service' supplies option C's NHS reference.
“However, we’d be depriving some humans (e.g. senior doctors) of the control they presently enjoy.”
The gap needs the drawback for senior doctors; 'depriving some humans (e.g. senior doctors) of the control they presently enjoy' matches option A.
“However, we’d be depriving some humans (e.g. senior doctors) of the control they presently enjoy.”
The gap needs the effect on those who currently hold authority; the same line's 'depriving some humans ... of the control' matches option E.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Living With Artificial Intelligence passage come from?
It is Passage 2 of Cambridge IELTS 18 Academic Reading Test 2, and it covers Questions 14–26.
What question types appear in Living With Artificial Intelligence?
The passage is tested with One Choice, Yes / No / Not Given, Summary Completion. Each type is explained on this page, alongside the answers.
Are these reading answers reliable?
Every answer is paired with the sentence that proves it, so you can check each one against the passage yourself. Use the page after a timed attempt, not instead of one.
Cambridge IELTS is published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Band9Prep is not affiliated with Cambridge. This page is an independent study aid: it gives the answer key, the passage evidence and an explanation so you can review an attempt you have already made.