马斯克的"巴别塔"：当 AI 翻译撕开语言的墙

最近全世界都在说的新闻。

a piece of news the whole world is discussing.

事情和"翻译"有关。

The story is about "translation."

今年四月，

This past April,

"X"——

"X" —

也就是以前的推特——

that is, the platform formerly known as Twitter —

向全球用户，

opened, to its global users,

正式开放了一个新功能：

a new feature:

所有的内容，

all content

都会自动翻译。

is automatically translated.

你看到日本人写的日语，

You see a Japanese person's Japanese post,

软件会立刻，

and the app immediately

帮你变成你能看懂的语言。

turns it into a language you can read.

你看到阿拉伯人写的话，

You see an Arabic post,

也一样。

the same thing.

你写的中文，

What you write in Chinese,

外国人那边，

on the foreigner's side

也能看懂。

they can also read.

这个功能，

This feature

其实从今年三月底，

actually started, at the end of March this year,

就开始慢慢上线。

to slowly come online.

英语用户最先用上，

English-speaking users got it first,

然后慢慢扩展到全世界。

then it gradually expanded to the rest of the world.

软件用的，

What the app uses

是马斯克自己公司，

is, from Musk's own company,

做的人工智能——

an AI they made —

叫"Grok"。

called "Grok."

听起来，

It sounds

这只是一件小事。

like just a small thing.

功能已经用了几个月了。

The feature has been in use for several months.

但是最近这段时间，

But over the past stretch of time,

这件事，

this matter,

在中文网上，

on the Chinese internet,

突然变成了一个，

has suddenly become

全民讨论的话题。

a topic of nationwide discussion.

原因，

The reason,

我们等一下会说。

we'll come to in a moment.

但在那之前，

But before that,

要先说一下，

let's mention

网友们给这件事，

the name netizens have given

起的一个名字：

to this whole thing:

"马斯克建起了巴别塔"。

"Musk has built the Tower of Babel."

"巴别塔"是什么？

What is "the Tower of Babel"?

我们要先说一下这个故事。

We have to first tell that story.

"巴别塔"，

"The Tower of Babel"

来自《圣经》。

comes from the Bible.

故事说，

The story says

很久很久以前，

that long, long ago

所有的人，

all the people

都说一样的话。

spoke the same language.

他们想一起，

They wanted, together, to build

造一个，

a

非常非常高的塔。

very, very tall tower —

高到可以通到天上。

tall enough to reach heaven.

神看到这件事，

God saw this

不高兴了。

and was not pleased.

神说：

God said:

"这些人在一起，

"If these people stay together,

"以后什么事，

"there will be nothing

"都做得出来。

"they cannot do.

所以神做了一件事：

So God did one thing:

让所有人，

he made all people

开始说不一样的话。

start speaking different languages.

人们一下子，

All at once, people

听不懂彼此了。

could not understand each other.

塔，

The tower

就再也没有造起来。

was never built.

人们也分开了，

The people scattered

去了不同的地方。

and went to different places.

这就是，

That is the reason why,

今天世界上，

in today's world,

有这么多不同语言的原因。

there are so many different languages.

现在马斯克的"X"，

Now Musk's "X"

让所有的语言，

lets all languages

又能互相听懂了。

understand each other again.

所以网友们说：

That's why netizens say

他在"建起巴别塔"。

he is "building the Tower of Babel."

那么，

So,

"巴别塔"建起来以后，

after "the Tower of Babel" was built,

人们看到了什么？

what did people see?

我们说两个方面。

We'll talk about two sides.

第一个方面：

The first side

是连接和有趣。

is connection and fun.

不同国家的人，

People from different countries

开始第一次，

for the first time

直接对话。

are talking directly.

比如，

For example,

日本网友，

Japanese netizens

喜欢做一种，

love to make a kind of dish

他们叫"日式意大利面"的菜。

they call "Japanese-style Italian pasta."

但是做法非常奇怪。

But the way they make it is very strange.

现在意大利人能看懂了，

Now Italians can read it,

他们就发了帖子说：

and they posted:

"我们意大利人，

"What did we Italians

"做错了什么？

"do wrong?

哭哭。

Sob sob.

韩国网友开玩笑说：

A Korean netizen joked:

"现在的感觉，

"It feels right now

"就像半夜起来上厕所，

"like getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom,

"看到意大利大叔，

"and seeing an Italian uncle

"和印度尼西亚阿姨，

"and an Indonesian auntie

"正在我家厨房，

"in my kitchen

"翻我的冰箱。

"going through my fridge.

很多人发现，

Many people discovered

其实全世界的人，

that people around the world

都有差不多的，

share roughly the same

幽默感和烦恼。

sense of humor and worries.

这是非常温暖的一面。

That's the very warm side.

但是，

But

第二个方面，

the second side

就没有这么温暖了。

isn't so warm.

有一些话，

Some words

本来只在，

were originally only said

一个国家里说。

within a single country.

现在突然，

Now suddenly,

全世界都能看到了。

the whole world can see them.

最有名的例子，

The most well-known example

就是日本。

is Japan.

日本以前给世界的印象，

Japan's previous image to the world

是"很有礼貌、

was "very polite,

"很守规矩、

"very orderly,

"很有文化"。

"very cultured."

这个印象，

This image

是几十年来，

was built up, over decades,

慢慢建立起来的。

slowly.

但是翻译功能上线以后，

But after the translation feature went live,

很多外国人，

many foreigners,

第一次直接看到了，

for the first time, directly saw

日本网友在自己国家里，

what Japanese netizens, inside their own country,

说的话。

actually say.

有的日本人，

Some Japanese people

否认历史上的事情，

deny historical events,

说一些对中国人、

say things about Chinese people

对韩国人，

and Korean people

非常不好的话。

that are very unpleasant.

还有的日本人，

Other Japanese people

把外国游客，

talked about foreign tourists

说得很难听。

in very ugly terms.

这些话翻译出来以后，

After these words were translated,

全世界都看到了。

the whole world saw them.

也就是说，

In other words,

中文用户最近，

the reason Chinese-speaking users have suddenly

之所以特别关注这件事，

paid such close attention to this matter

不是因为功能刚上线——

isn't that the feature just launched —

而是因为他们刚刚发现：

it's that they just realized:

原来日本的网上，

Japan's internet

和我们想的不一样。

isn't what we thought it was.

有一个阿拉伯网友说：

One Arabic netizen said:

"日本花了几十年，

"Japan spent decades

"建立的好形象，

"building a good image —

"马斯克和他的翻译机器，

"Musk and his translation machine

"一个星期就毁掉了。

"destroyed it in a week.

这话当然有夸张，

That, of course, is exaggerated,

但是说出了一个事实：

but it pointed at a fact:

以前，

in the past,

语言是一堵墙。

language was a wall.

你在墙里说什么，

Whatever you said inside the wall,

墙外的人听不到。

people outside couldn't hear.

现在墙没有了。

Now the wall is gone.

你在自己国家里说的话，

What you say inside your own country

全世界都能看到。

the whole world can see.

反过来也一样。

And the other way too.

中国网友说的话，

What Chinese netizens say

现在外国人也能看到。

foreigners can now also see.

我们以前，

What we used to think of

觉得是"自己人"之间的玩笑，

as a joke between "our own people"

现在变成了，

has become

全世界都在看的内容。

content the whole world is reading.

讲到这里，

At this point

我想说一点，

I want to share a little

我自己的想法。

of my own thinking.

这件事，

This matter

让我们看到了一个，

shows us

新的现实：

a new reality:

互联网越来越大，

the internet is getting bigger

但同时也越来越"近"。

and at the same time more "close."

以前我们觉得，

We used to feel

我们在自己的语言里，

that, inside our own language,

是安全的。

we were safe.

现在不安全了。

Not anymore.

每一句话，

Every sentence

都有可能，

can possibly

被全世界听到。

be heard by the whole world.

这是好事，

This is a good thing,

也是新的责任。

and a new responsibility.

我们要开始想：

We have to start thinking:

我说的每一句话，

every sentence I say —

是不是真的，

is it really

是我想说给全世界听的？

something I want the whole world to hear?

最后我想问你：

Finally I want to ask you:

如果你写的每一条朋友圈、

If every Moments post you write,

每一条微博，

every Weibo,

外国人也能看懂——

could also be read by foreigners —

你会不会，

would you

有一点点不一样？

be even a little bit different?

你想一想。

Think about it.

好。

Okay.

今天就说到这里。

That's all for today.

明天再聊。

Talk tomorrow.