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Tech News Briefing
MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2025
4/21/2025 3:01:00 AMShare This Episode
AI and Nuclear Power and ‘Wizard of Oz,’ Oh My!
Google used artificial intelligence to re-imagine “The Wizard of Oz” for an immersive experience at the Las Vegas Sphere, and WSJ CIO Journal reporter Isabelle Bousquette got an exclusive look at the 21st century tweaks to the classic film. Plus, nuclear power is being tapped to run AI data centers, but WSJ reporter Belle Lin writes that AI could also help humans operate those same facilities. Victoria Craig hosts.
Victoria Craig: Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Monday, April 21st. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal. Artificial intelligence goes retro. We've got to a show all about how today's hottest tech is upgrading innovations of yesteryear. We'll take you to Las Vegas, where The Wizard of Oz is getting a 21st century makeover, and then look at how an AI-based tool can help operate decades-old nuclear reactors.
But first, to the wonderful world of Oz.
- goes retro /ɡoʊz ˈrɛtroʊ/ レトロに回帰する、昔のスタイルを取り入れる
- upgrade /ˈʌpɡreɪd/ ～をアップグレードする、向上させる
- innovations of yesteryear /ˌɪnəˈveɪʃənz əv ˈjɛstərjɪr/ 昔の革新、過去の技術
- makeover /ˈmeɪkˌoʊvər/ イメージ刷新、改装、再構築
- nuclear reactors /ˈnuːkliər riˈæktərz/ 原子炉
- the wonderful world of Oz /ðə ˈwʌndərfl wɜːrld əv ɑːz/ 『オズの魔法使い』の幻想的な世界（番組の導入として比喩的に使用）
Isabelle Bousquette: Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
Victoria Craig: If Dorothy was shocked when her world went from black and white to technicolor in 1939, she'd be amazed at how AI has reimagined it.
- black and white /blæk ənd waɪt/ 白黒（映画や映像）
- technicolor /ˈtɛknɪˌkʌlər/ テクニカラー（鮮やかな色彩を特徴とする旧式の映画カラーフィルム技術）
- amazed /əˈmeɪzd/ 非常に驚いた、仰天した
- AI (artificial intelligence) /ˌeɪˈaɪ/ 人工知能
- reimagined /ˌriːɪˈmædʒɪnd/ 再構築された、新たな視点で想像された
Speaker 2: We must be over the rainbow.
Victoria Craig: The Las Vegas Sphere is preparing to give audiences an immersive viewing experience of The Wizard of Oz this summer, but adapting the 86-year-old film for the ultra-big screen presented quite a challenge. WSJ's CIO Journal Reporter Isabelle Bousquette has an exclusive look at how the Sphere worked with Google to find the solution. So, Isabelle, just walk us through the technology first, because this wasn't just a few tweaks here and there to the original Wizard of Oz film. This was a project really on a massive scale. So, just describe that to us.
- immersive viewing experience /ɪˈmɜːrsɪv ˈvjuːɪŋ ɪkˈspɪəriəns/ 没入型の映像体験
- The Las Vegas Sphere /ðə lɑːs ˈveɪɡəs sfɪr/ ラスベガス・スフィア（360度の巨大LEDドーム会場）
- adapting the film /əˈdæptɪŋ ðə fɪlm/ 映画を（別の形式・媒体に）適応させること
- ultra-big screen /ˈʌltrə bɪɡ skriːn/ 超巨大スクリーン
- presented quite a challenge /prɪˈzentɪd kwaɪt ə ˈʧælɪndʒ/ 相当な課題を突きつけた
- exclusive look /ɪkˈskluːsɪv lʊk/ 独占的な取材・情報公開
- walk (someone) through (something) /wɔːk ˈsʌmwʌn θruː ˈsʌmθɪŋ/ ～を順を追って説明する
- tweaks here and there /twiːks hɪr ənd ðer/ ちょっとした手直しや調整
- on a massive scale /ɒn ə ˈmæsɪv skeɪl/ 大規模に、巨大なスケールで
Isabelle Bousquette: Yeah. I mean, when you think about the fact that this movie, it was shot in the 1930s on a 35 millimeter camera, and they're trying to essentially put it on one of the highest resolution biggest screens in the world. It's 160,000 square feet. It's curved. The challenge of doing this is essentially a big one, such that even the engineers at Google DeepMind were initially like, "Oh, my God, where do we even start?" But essentially, what they did was two things, both involving AI. On one hand, they just used AI to enhance the resolution. This is a slightly different technique than traditional resolution enhancement, which would essentially involve taking the existing pixels and doing a copy-paste. They essentially went really deep and used generative AI to generate new pixels. And that was a better way of enhancing the resolution there.
- was shot /wəz ʃɑːt/ 撮影された（"shoot a film" の過去分詞）
- high resolution /haɪ ˌrɛzəˈluːʃən/ 高解像度
- curved /kɜːrvd/ 曲面の、湾曲した
- enhance the resolution /ɪnˈhæns ðə ˌrɛzəˈluːʃən/ 解像度を高める
- traditional enhancement /trəˈdɪʃənəl ɪnˈhænsmənt/ 従来型の画質向上法
- copy-paste /ˈkɒpi peɪst/ コピー＆ペースト（そのまま複製）
- generate new pixels /ˈʤɛnəˌreɪt nuː ˈpɪksəlz/ 新しいピクセルを生成する
And then the other thing they did was expand scenes. Essentially, in the original movie, if the screen ended at certain boundaries, but other characters are off-screen, the Sphere version is now giving you a much wider view into what's happening in that scene. You can see characters that were off-screen in the past. You can see a much broader background. Maybe parts of the poppy field or parts of the Emerald City, crowds, essentially that were not in the original shots. That's a technique that they called outpainting. There's also going to be some other sensory elements they're working on. They didn't want to talk about that a lot yet. Some of those elements are still under wraps, but they're really leaning into this is not just going to the movies. This is really experiencing this film.
- boundaries /ˈbaʊndəriz/ 境界、画面の端（複数形）
- off-screen /ˌɔːfˈskriːn/ 画面外にある、映っていない
- broader background /ˈbrɔːdər ˈbækˌɡraʊnd/ より広い背景
- outpainting /ˈaʊtˌpeɪntɪŋ/ AIが画像の外側を想像で描き足す技術
- sensory elements /ˈsɛnsəri ˈɛləmənts/ 感覚的要素（触覚・音・匂いなどを含む）
- under wraps /ˌʌndər ˈræps/ 非公開で、秘密裏に
- lean into /liːn ˈɪntuː/ ～に力を入れる、積極的に取り組む
- experience (a film) /ɪkˈspɪriəns ə fɪlm/ 映画を体験する（観るより没入的）
Victoria Craig: And this use of AI has really generated a lot of excitement for some in the entertainment industry, but not everyone, including a lot of people in the comments section of this story are thrilled with the technology really seeping into, I guess, more traditional, can we call it sacred aspects of our memories?
- seep into /siːp ˈɪntuː/ （徐々に）染み込む、入り込む
- traditional aspects /trəˈdɪʃənl ˈæsˌpɛkts/ 伝統的な側面
- sacred /ˈseɪkrɪd/ 神聖な、大切にされるべき
Isabelle Bousquette: Yeah. This film is so beloved, so when Google says AI has touched more than 90% of it, it gives a lot of people anxiety and they feel like something that was sacred is maybe now being reinvented in a way that maybe not everyone is happy with. Google did put in a lot of work to stay true to the core of the film. They match it shot-for-shot, so it's not like they're inventing new scenes or anything, but people were still pretty upset. They looked at the AI version and they were like, "I don't like her movements. This is not the way it was intended. And what are they going to do next?" Within Hollywood as well, this is also stoking a lot of fears. There's a lot of anxiety in the acting community and the writing community over how their creative intellectual property is going to be used and reused by generative AI. So, it's stoking a lot of those anxieties and unanswered questions.
- beloved /bɪˈlʌvɪd/ 愛されている、大切にされている
- sacred /ˈseɪkrɪd/ 神聖な、冒しがたいほど大事な
- reinvent /ˌriːɪnˈvɛnt/ 再発明する、新しい形に作り直す
- stay true to /steɪ truː tuː/ ～に忠実である、本質を保つ
- shot-for-shot /ˌʃɒt fɔː ˈʃɒt/ （映画などで）シーンごとに一致させた
- stoke fears/anxieties /stəʊk fɪəz/ /æŋˈzaɪətiz/ 恐れや不安を煽る、刺激する
- creative intellectual property /kriˈeɪtɪv ˌɪntəˈlɛktʃuəl ˈprɒpərti/ 創造的知的財産（アイデア・脚本・演技など）
- generative AI /ˈʤɛnərətɪv eɪˈaɪ/ 生成AI（新しいデータや作品を生み出すAI）
- unanswered questions /ʌnˈɑːnsərd ˈkwɛsʧənz/ 未解決の疑問
Victoria Craig: That was WSJ's CIO Journal Reporter Isabelle Bousquette. Coming up, the Energy Department is hoping AI will take a starring role in advising humans at the helm of nuclear power's big tech fueled revival. That story after the break.
- Energy Department /ˈɛnərʤi dɪˈpɑːrtmənt/ （米国）エネルギー省
- take a starring role /teɪk ə ˈstɑːrɪŋ roʊl/ 主役を務める、重要な役割を果たす
- at the helm of /ət ðə hɛlm əv/ ～の舵を取る、～の指揮を執る
- nuclear power /ˈnuːkliər ˈpaʊər/ 原子力発電
- tech-fueled /ˈtɛk ˌfjuːəld/ 技術によって活性化された、テクノロジー主導の
- revival /rɪˈvaɪvəl/ 復活、再興、再活性化
We've talked a lot on the show about how nuclear energy is seeing a revival thanks to big tech's data centers and their ravenous appetite for power, especially when it comes to AI. But to add an inception-like layer here, the relationship between nuclear and AI doesn't end there. Artificial intelligence could be used to help humans run those nuclear plants, too. Belle Lin covers AI and technology for The Wall Street Journal. Belle, there's a lab in Illinois that's run by the Energy Department. And it's come up with an AI tool that can not only help design, but also run the nuclear plants. Just walk us through that tool, and what it could be used for, and how it would be used.
- big tech /bɪɡ tɛk/ 大手テクノロジー企業群（例：Google, Amazonなど）
- ravenous appetite /ˈrævənəs ˈæpəˌtaɪt/ 飽くなき（猛烈な）欲求、食欲
- especially when it comes to /ɪˈspɛʃəli wɛn ɪt kʌmz tuː/ 特に～に関して言えば
- add an inception-like layer /æd ən ɪnˈsɛpʃən laɪk ˈleɪər/ 『インセプション』(物語が多層構造になっていく) のような一段階深いレイヤーを加える（比喩）
- the relationship doesn’t end there /ðə rɪˈleɪʃənʃɪp ˈdʌzənt ɛnd ðɛər/ 関係はそれだけでは終わらない
- run those nuclear plants /rʌn ðoʊz ˈnuːkliər plænts/ それらの原子力発電所を運転・管理する
- come up with /kʌm ʌp wɪð/ ～を考案する、開発する
- walk us through /wɔːk ʌs θruː/ ～を分かりやすく説明する（案内する）
Belle Lin: This tool is called PRO-AID. And it was developed by Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois. And it predates this current AI boom. But it really dovetails quite nicely, because as AI is driving this immense great need for power and particularly nuclear power, it's also arriving as a way to help make these nuclear plants more efficient. And the reason why nuclear plants really need this kind of AI boost is because they belong in the era of nuclear's heyday, which was really in the 1970s, the 1990s.
- predate /ˌpriːˈdeɪt/ ～より前に存在する、先行する
- dovetail nicely /ˈdʌvˌteɪl ˈnaɪsli/ うまく一致する、ぴったり合う（職人用語から来た比喩）
- immense /ɪˈmɛns/ 非常に大きな、莫大な
- make A more efficient /meɪk ... mɔːr ɪˈfɪʃənt/ Aをより効率的にする
- nuclear's heyday /ˈnuːkliərz ˈheɪdeɪ/ 原子力産業の全盛期、黄金時代
And since then, the utility providers that run them really haven't updated the technology. And so, if you jokingly imagine Homer Simpson sitting in his nuclear power plant with all the monitoring switches and the analog, buttons, that's actually not too dissimilar from what a lot of these nuclear power plants actually look like in their monitoring rooms. And so, there's a great need for technology like this PRO-AID tool from Argonne to come in and replace some of the more manual tasks that a lot of nuclear operators have to do on a regular basis.
- utility providers /juːˈtɪləti prəˈvaɪdərz/ 公共事業提供者、電力会社など
- jokingly /ˈʤoʊkɪŋli/ 冗談半分で、冗談で
- monitoring switches /ˈmɒnɪtərɪŋ swɪʧɪz/ 監視用スイッチ
- analog /ˈænəlɒɡ/ アナログ（デジタルに対して、物理的な信号や動作に基づく技術）
- dissimilar /dɪˈsɪmɪlər/ 異なる、似ていない
- manual tasks /ˈmænjuəl tæks/ 手作業、手動の仕事
7:34
Victoria Craig: What are some of those tasks? I mean, for people who can't conceptualize this, I'm one of those people, what kind of things can AI take over from humans in this way?
Belle Lin: It's essentially acting as an assistant, so it's not really taking over a lot of the work of a utility plant operator. It's really meant to aid the work of an operator in a lot of the making sure that the flips and the switches are running green, rather than running red.
- a lot of the making sure that 話し言葉でときどき見られる->形式的・文法的には不自然。「make sure（〜を確実にする）」を名詞化して "making sure" としても、前に "a lot of the" をつけるのはやや不格好。
Victoria Craig: You talked about how long nuclear power has been around and how old some of these plants are. So, walk us through the process to integrate this newer technology. Is it easier to do with newer build plants? Is that an option or are they really looking to retrofit all of these older ones?
- conceptualize /kənˈsɛp.tʃu.ə.laɪz/ 概念化する、頭の中でイメージする
- take over (from) /teɪk ˈoʊvər/ （役割・仕事などを）引き継ぐ、代わる
- utility plant operator /juːˈtɪləti plænt ˈɑːpəˌreɪtər/ 発電所オペレーター（公共施設の操縦者）
- aid /eɪd/ 助ける、支援する（動詞・名詞どちらも）
- flip (switch) /flɪp/ （スイッチを）入れる・切るという動作を指す
- running green / red /ˈrʌnɪŋ ɡriːn / red/ 正常稼働（緑）/ 異常・警告（赤）状態を指す比喩的表現
- new build plant /njuː bɪld plænt/ 新たに建設された発電所
- retrofit /ˈrɛtroʊˌfɪt/ 既存の設備を改修・近代化すること
Belle Lin: Yeah. It's a bit of a combination of both, but it's a lot easier to add new technology to newer builds, to the newer generation of small modular reactors and companies that are hoping to bring nuclear power online, rather than updating existing nuclear power plants, some of which may be aging out of commission. Argonne, for instance, is looking to these companies like TerraPower and Oklo, which are backed by big tech and big tech personalities. But there's also a hope that the existing nuclear plant providers will be wanting to upgrade their plants as their lifetimes become extended because of the greater need for nuclear power.
- small modular reactors /smɔːl ˈmɑː.dʒə.lɚ riˈæk.tɚz/ 小型モジュール炉（SMR）
- bring ~ online /brɪŋ ɒnˈlaɪn/ （電力などを）稼働させる、供給開始する
- aging out of commission /ˈeɪ.dʒɪŋ aʊt əv kəˈmɪʃ.ən/ 老朽化して廃止される、使用停止状態になる
- be backed by ~ /bi bækt baɪ/ ～に支援されている、資金提供を受けている
- big tech personalities /bɪɡ tɛk ˌpɝː.səˈnæ.lə.tiz/ ビッグテック関係の著名人（例: Bill Gatesなど）
- upgrade (a plant) /ˈʌp.ɡreɪd/ 設備をアップグレードする、近代化する
- extend the lifetime /ɪkˈstɛnd ðə ˈlaɪf.taɪm/ 使用可能期間を延長する
- a greater need for ~ /ə ˈɡreɪ.t̬ɚ niːd fɔːr/ ～へのより大きな需要
Victoria Craig: And one of the things that really struck me from your story was a quote from a senior nuclear engineer at that Illinois lab. He said, "If we can hand off some of those lower-level capabilities to a machine when someone retires, you don't need to replace him or her." And to me when I read that, I think, oh, my gosh, humans are going to be completely out of this nuclear power game. But you alluded to this before. That's not the case. It's not that AI is going to completely take over operating and running these plants. It's just going to be helping assist in certain ways here and there.
- struck me /strʌk mi/ 印象に残った、心に響いた（過去形 of "strike"）
- hand off ~ to... /hænd ɔːf tə/ ～を…に引き継ぐ、任せる
- lower-level capabilities /ˈloʊ.ɚ ˈlɛv.əl ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪ.lə.tiz/ 低次レベルの能力、基本的な業務
- retire /rɪˈtaɪɚ/ 引退する、退職する
- replace him or her /rɪˈpleɪs hɪm ɔː hɝː/ その人を補充・交代させる
- completely out of ~ /kəmˈpliːt.li aʊt əv/ ～から完全に除外される
- alluded to ~ /əˈluː.dɪd tu/ ～にほのめかした、軽く触れた（allude の過去形）
- take over /teɪk ˈoʊ.vɚ/ 引き継ぐ、支配する、完全に掌握する
- assist in certain ways /əˈsɪst ɪn ˈsɝː.tən weɪz/ 特定の面で支援する
Belle Lin: Yeah, I think that's a good way to describe it. There's just a lot of that more tedious work that PRO-AID and tools like it. But PRO-AID is the only one that is really harnessing LLMs, for instance, can assist with. And a lot of the work in the plants just have to do with troubleshooting, and so that's something that LLMs are good at in terms of communicating with plant operators in natural language. So, you can sort of interrogate in plain English, the way that you and I are chatting with the tool. And it can return a response as if you were chatting to a person who really knows a lot about the nuclear plant that you're operating.
- tedious work /ˈtiː.di.əs wɝːk/ 退屈な作業、単調で時間のかかる仕事
- harnessing /ˈhɑːr.nə.sɪŋ/ 利用する、活用する（特にエネルギーや技術を）
- LLMs (large language models) /ˌlɑːrdʒ ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ ˈmɑː.dəlz/ 大規模言語モデル（ChatGPTなどのようなAIモデル）
- assist with ~ /əˈsɪst wɪð/ ～を手伝う、支援する
- troubleshooting /ˈtrʌ.bəlˌʃuː.tɪŋ/ 問題の特定と解決（機械・システムなどの）
- in terms of ~ /ɪn ˈtɝːmz əv/ ～の観点から、～に関して
- natural language /ˈnætʃ.ɚ.əl ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ/ 自然言語（人間が使う普通の言葉）
- interrogate /ɪnˈter.ə.ɡeɪt/ 尋ねる、問いただす（通常は「尋問する」だが、ここでは丁寧な質問の意味）
- plain English /pleɪn ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/ わかりやすい簡単な英語
- chatting with /ˈtʃæt.ɪŋ wɪð/ ～とおしゃべりする、カジュアルに話す
- knows a lot about ~ /noʊz ə lɑːt əˈbaʊt/ ～に詳しい、～をよく知っている
Victoria Craig: So, if it notices that maybe something is overheating, it can alert an engineer or someone at the plant, and then they can go from there, then the human basically takes over?
Belle Lin: Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Victoria Craig: And how far along is this tool in its development? Is it already being implemented in some places?
Belle Lin: The tool is ready because it's been developed by taxpayer dollars, essentially as part of Argonne National Laboratory. It needs to be commercialized by the private sector, so they're looking for partners to work with them on making it widely available commercially.
Victoria Craig: That was WSJ Reporter Belle Lin. And that's it for Tech News Briefing. Today's show was produced by Ariana Aspuru with Deputy Editor Chris Zinsli, additional production support from Julie Chang and Pierre Bienaime. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back this afternoon with TNB Tech Minutes. Thanks for listening.