When You Forget, I'll Remember, Chapter 15

Chapter 15第十五章Whose Voice?谁的声音？

Saturday 10 April, twenty to seven in the evening, dusk, fresh green willows. Grandpa and Xiaoyu walk home along the lake path from the park, Grandpa at the LEFT with the faded blue chess bag in his LEFT hand, Xiaoyu at the RIGHT in her moss-green cardigan with her canvas tote on her LEFT shoulder. Across the water the big screen on a garden tower has just lit, soft white, its reflection long on the lake. Two small faces in the lower middle; the sky above is the quiet area for the caption and the song. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

April 2038. Willow, the city's care helper, now understood Bridge City dialect. Its maker, Lantern, put adverts everywhere.二〇三八年四月。城里的照护助手小柳，终于听得懂桥城话了。小柳背后的公司小灯，广告挂得满城都是。

‹♪ The moon is on the lake, and I wait for you at the stone table. ♪›♪ 月亮照在湖心上，石桌旁边我等你 ♪

Same dusk. The big tower screen across the water fills the panel at a slight angle. On it a calm moonlit lake and an empty stone table under a willow, painted simply in manga style, with a plain dark band along the bottom painted BLANK, the words lettered in afterwards. Soft white light, a long pale reflection on the water. No person, no face on the screen, no painted letters.

‹Talk to me in your own words. I'm right here by the lake.›有话就用家乡话跟我讲。我就在湖边呢。

Willow understands Bridge City dialect. Lantern小柳听得懂桥城话了。小灯

Same dusk. Close on Grandpa stopped on the lake path, looking RIGHT across the water at the far screen off panel, its pale light on his face, eyes wide, mouth just open. His face in the lower middle of the panel; the dusk sky above is the quiet area. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

‹Meilan? Is that you?›美兰？是你吗？

That song is Grandpa's own. He made it up for my grandmother, Meilan, in 1975.那是外公自己编的歌，一九七五年写给我外婆美兰的。

Nobody outside our family had ever heard it. And the voice sounded just like hers.除了我们家里人，谁也没听过。偏偏那嗓音，跟外婆一模一样。

Saturday, nine in the evening, the one warm lamp on, the balcony glass deep blue. Grandpa sits in the olive armchair at the LEFT, glasses on their cord at his chest, lifting his LEFT wrist towards his mouth, speaking to the cream band. Xiaoyu sits at the round folding table at the RIGHT with a bowl of noodles, watching him. Willow's white pill box glows beside the dull Lantern speaker on the table. Two faces in the middle band; the dim wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque; reflections only on empty glass.

‹Willow, where have my glasses gone?›小柳，你晓得我眼镜放哪儿了？

‹On the cord round your neck, Mr Chen.›陈爷爷，眼镜就在您脖子上挂着呢。

Same lamp. Close on Grandpa lifting the glasses on their cord a little from his chest with his RIGHT hand, delighted, looking down at the band on his LEFT wrist. His face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area.

‹Willow understood me at last! I have waited since last autumn.›小柳总算听懂我的话了！我从去年秋天一直等到今天。

Same lamp. Close on Grandpa in the armchair, his LEFT wrist raised again towards his mouth, the band dim, his face softer and hopeful, looking down at the band. His face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area.

‹Willow, play me the song from the lake.›小柳，把湖边那首歌给我放一遍。

Same night, the lamp on. Xiaoyu stands between the wooden side table at the LEFT and the glass cabinet at the RIGHT, looking at the silver tape player on the side table, the labelled cassette in its window. Behind the glass of the cabinet at the RIGHT, on the bottom shelf, the worn brown shoebox of Grandma's old tapes is plainly visible (she does not look at it). Willow's white pill box glows on the table edge. One face in the middle band; the dim wall above is the quiet area. The glass is clear, nothing shows through a body.

‹Playing the new advert.›正在播放新广告。

Haoran runs Lantern. He once made a Grandma voice and deleted it.浩然如今管着小灯。他做过电脑外婆，又删了。

Five to midnight, the lamp turned low. Grandpa sleeps in the olive armchair under a thin blanket, his head to one side, his LEFT wrist on the armrest, the band's orange light just fading. One face, asleep, in the upper middle of the panel; the dark floor and the blanket below are the quiet area. A feeling picture.

By midnight Grandpa had played Lantern's advert fourteen times.到半夜，那条广告外公已经放了十四遍。

Saturday, ten at night in Bridge City, three in the afternoon in Edinburgh, the bedside lamp. Over Xiaoyu's RIGHT shoulder from behind, her ponytail in the LEFT foreground, as she sits on her bed holding her phone in both hands; on the phone's lit screen, small and clear, Mama at her Edinburgh kitchen table in afternoon light, in a navy jumper, very still. One face (Mama's, small). The dim room around is the quiet area.

I sent the advert to Mama in Edinburgh. She called straight back.我把广告发给远在爱丁堡的妈妈，她立刻打了过来。

‹That is not my mother singing. My mother always sang out of tune.›这不是我妈唱的。我妈唱歌老跑调，就没唱准过。

Same night. The phone screen alone fills the panel: Mama close on it at her kitchen table, a hand at her temple, worn and upset. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale kitchen wall behind her is the quiet area.

‹Someone gave Lantern her voice. Get the advert taken down, Xiaoyu.›准是有人把我妈的声音给了小灯。小雨，去让他们把广告撤了。

Same night. Close on Xiaoyu on her bed looking down at the phone held in her hands (we see only the back of the phone and its glow on her face), steady. Her face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. Night: any window is dark night blue, the room lit only by a warm lamp, no daylight.

Haoran deleted the voice he made, Mama. I watched him do it.妈，浩然做的那个声音早删了，我亲眼看着他删的。

Same night. Xiaoyu stands at her window, the phone lowered in her RIGHT hand with its back to us, looking out across the dark lake at the lit screen on the tower. Her face is in three-quarter, the clearest thing, in the upper middle of the panel; the dark window ledge below is the quiet area. A feeling picture. The glass is clear.

‹Quietly, please. I don't want my mother in the news.›别声张。我不想让我妈上新闻。

I wanted Grandma's voice out of the advert. I wanted Lantern to say where it got her voice.我要让外婆的声音从广告里消失，还要小灯交代清楚，这声音到底是哪儿弄来的。

Monday 12 April, six in the evening, dusk at the balcony glass, the lamp on. Ms Ye, about forty, in her navy blazer over a cream blouse with the small round orange enamel pin on her lapel, sits at the round table at the LEFT holding her tablet upright in its dark blue case in her LEFT hand, so we see only the back of the case and its glow on her face. Xiaoyu sits at the RIGHT. Grandpa sits small and side-on in the olive armchair in the far LEFT background. Willow's white pill box glows beside the dull Lantern speaker on the table. Three faces in the middle band, Grandpa's small. The people are solid and opaque.

On Monday Ms Ye, Lantern's manager in Bridge City, came to our flat. Since last autumn she had answered every call I made.星期一，小灯在桥城的负责人叶岚来了我家。去年秋天起，我每回打电话都是她接。

‹I asked our team in San Francisco about the advert.›广告的事，我问过旧金山总部了。

Same dusk. Close on Ms Ye, kind and certain, looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel, the small round orange pin on her lapel. Her face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

‹The voice was made by a computer. It belongs to no one.›这声音是电脑合成的，不归任何人。

Same dusk. Close on Grandpa in the olive armchair, looking RIGHT across the room at Ms Ye off panel, one eyebrow up, dry. His face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

‹If it belongs to no one, how does it know my song?›不归任何人？那它怎么会唱我的歌？

Same dusk. Ms Ye at the LEFT, pleased, lays her tablet face down on the round table with her LEFT hand; Xiaoyu at the RIGHT sits still. Two faces in the middle band; the dim wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

‹From 1 May, this voice will be Willow's voice at night, for every dialect speaker in Bridge City.›从五月一号起，小柳夜里就用这个声音，陪桥城每一个说方言的人。

‹Old people trust a grandmother's voice in the dark.›老人家夜里听着奶奶辈的声音，心里踏实。

Same dusk, a moment later. Grandpa sits in the armchair at the LEFT smiling to himself, his RIGHT hand stroking the band on his LEFT wrist. Xiaoyu at the RIGHT looks at him, not at Ms Ye, worried. Two faces in the upper middle of the picture; the lamplit floor below is the quiet area. A feeling picture.

From 1 May, a voice like Grandma's would speak from his wristband every night. Grandpa wanted it.从五月一号起，一个像外婆的声音，每天夜里都会从手环里跟外公说话。外公是盼着的。

Tuesday 13 April, two in the afternoon, white afternoon light through the tall windows. Teo sits at the long desk at the LEFT, turned towards Xiaoyu at the RIGHT, so we see his bare LEFT ear; Xiaoyu stands at the RIGHT with her canvas tote on her LEFT shoulder. Professor Lin stands small at her standing desk by the window behind, reading her laptop. Two clear faces, Lin's small. The pale wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque.

On Tuesday I told Teo, my lab partner, about the advert, with Professor Lin working nearby.星期二在实验室，我跟搭档特奥说了广告的事。林教授就在旁边忙着。

Lantern says a computer made the advert voice, so it belongs to no one.小灯说，广告里的声音是电脑合成的，所以不归任何人。

Same afternoon. Close on Teo turned towards the viewer's LEFT, so we see his RIGHT ear with the small clear earbud in it, looking down at his laptop (its back to us, a faint glow on his face), quiet and exact. His face in the middle of the panel; the pale window wall behind is the quiet area.

A voice program can copy a voice from a short recording. But first it learns from real people.语音程序听一小段录音，就能学得像一个人。可它先得拿真人的声音练。

Same afternoon. Close on Professor Lin at her standing desk, looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel over the top of her laptop (its back to us), cool and exact. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

‹Your dialect paper is due in June, Xiaoyu. Is this research, or family?›小雨，你的方言论文六月就得交。你这是做研究，还是管家事？

Same afternoon, at the long desk by the window. On the desk stands a big glass jar crammed full of small mixed things: letters, family photographs, old cassette tapes, a child's crayon drawing, postcards. Teo at the LEFT drops one more cassette tape into the jar from his RIGHT hand; Xiaoyu at the RIGHT, her canvas tote on the desk, watches it fall. Two faces low in the lower middle of the panel; the bright window wall above is the quiet area for the box. The people are solid and opaque.

WHERE THE VOICES COME FROM. Big AI programs learn from huge collections of writing, pictures and recordings, much of it gathered from the internet. Many people whose work was used were never asked. Many feel they should get to decide.声音从哪儿来。大型AI模型靠海量的文字、图片和录音训练，其中很多是从网上收集的。这些东西的主人，很多从没被问过。不少人觉得，用不用本该由自己决定。

‹Both, Professor Lin.›都有，林老师。

Thursday 15 April, ten in the morning, bright light through the balcony glass. Xiaoyu kneels at the glass cabinet at the RIGHT, lifting the worn brown shoebox of Grandma's old tapes off the bottom shelf with both hands. Grandpa sits in the olive armchair at the LEFT, glasses on their cord, watching her. Meilan's photo stands on top of the cabinet. Two faces in the middle band; the bright wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque.

On Thursday I set out to prove the advert used Grandma's voice. Her tapes of baby Huihui, my mother, were in the glass cabinet.星期四，我想办法证明广告用的是外婆的声音。玻璃柜里有一盒磁带，是外婆当年给小慧慧录的。慧慧就是我妈。

Same bright morning. Close on the silver tape player on the wooden side table playing an old cassette with a yellowed label (the label blurred and blank), the reels turning. Xiaoyu's sky-blue phone lies flat beside it, screen up, seen edge-on, recording. No face. The pale wood around is the quiet area.

‹Huihui, don't grab the microphone!›慧慧，别抢话筒！

Same morning. Close on Xiaoyu kneeling by the side table, eyes just open after listening, looking up and LEFT at Grandpa off panel. Her face in the middle of the panel; the bright wall behind is the quiet area.

‹Grandpa, I'll send Lantern Grandma's real tape and the advert, side by side.›外公，我把外婆的真录音和广告一起发给小灯，让他们自己比。

Same morning. Close on Grandpa in the olive armchair, looking RIGHT and down at Xiaoyu off panel, dry, a small smile. His face in the middle of the panel; the bright wall behind is the quiet area.

‹I knew her voice across the whole lake. Lantern needs better ears.›她的声音，隔着一个湖我都认得出。小灯该换副好耳朵了。

Thursday evening, the lamp. Xiaoyu's sky-blue phone lies on the round table, its cracked corner at the top RIGHT, its screen filling the panel and showing one plain message painted BLANK, the words lettered in afterwards. No person. The pale wood around it is the quiet area.

Lantern answered that same evening.当天晚上，小灯就回信了。

Dear Miss Zhou, many older women sound alike. A computer made the voice. It belongs to no one. Lantern周小姐您好：许多年长女性的嗓音都很相似。该声音由电脑合成，不归任何人所有。小灯

Saturday 17 April, seven in the evening, dusk (noon in Edinburgh). Xiaoyu stands side-on at the RIGHT of the balcony by the rail, her sky-blue phone held to her RIGHT ear the ordinary way, listening; the lake beyond and the lit screen on the far tower. Pot plants on the rail. One face in the middle band; the dusk sky above is the quiet area. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

On Saturday evening Mama called again from Edinburgh.星期六傍晚，妈妈又从爱丁堡打来电话。

‹And the advert sings in tune. My mother never did. So Lantern can say it isn't her.›再说，广告里一个音都不跑。我妈哪唱准过？小灯正好能说那不是她。

Same dusk. Close on Xiaoyu on the balcony, the phone lowered in her RIGHT hand, looking out at the lit screen off panel, troubled. Her face in the middle of the panel; the dusk sky behind is the quiet area. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

It was not Grandma singing. But the voice had to be made from Grandma's voice.唱歌的不是外婆。可这声音，准是拿外婆的声音做的。

Eleven at night, one lamp low. Close on Grandpa in the olive armchair, his LEFT wrist raised close to his mouth, the cream band glowing, speaking softly, eyes half closed. His face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. A feeling picture.

‹Meilan, come to bed. It's late.›美兰，不早了，睡觉吧。

Same night. Xiaoyu stands at the RIGHT in her bedroom doorway in her sleep clothes (a big grey t-shirt and loose dark trousers), one hand on the door frame, watching. Grandpa sits small at the LEFT in the olive armchair, his LEFT wrist raised, the orange light of the band the brightest thing in the room. Two faces in the upper middle band; the dark floor below is the quiet area. A feeling picture. The reader knows more than Grandpa does, a machine is answering a man who is calling his late wife. The people are solid and opaque. Her bedroom door is OPEN; she stands in the doorway on the room side of the threshold, the dark room behind her.

That night Grandpa spoke to his wristband as if it were Grandma.那天夜里，外公把手环当成了外婆，对着它说话。

‹Meilan is not in your contacts, Mr Chen. Shall I play Lantern's advert again?›陈爷爷，通讯录里没有美兰。需要再播一遍小灯的广告吗？

Sunday 18 April, five past five in the morning, dark. Xiaoyu sits up in bed in her sleep clothes (a big grey t-shirt), her sky-blue phone in her LEFT hand, alarmed; we see the back of the phone and its glow on her face. One face in the middle band; the dark wall above is the quiet area.

At five on Sunday morning my phone woke me.星期天早上五点，手机把我吵醒了。

‹Mr Chen has left the building. He is walking towards the lake.›陈爷爷已离开楼栋，正往湖边走。

Same dark morning. Xiaoyu runs down the stairs under the landing bulb, in cloth slippers with her moss-green cardigan over her sleep clothes, her RIGHT hand on the rail, the phone in her LEFT hand. One face, three-quarter, in the middle of the panel; the dark stairs around are the quiet area. No speech.

Grey first light, mist on the lake. Across the lake the tower screen is lit with the advert, a calm moonlit lake and an empty stone table, its pale reflection long on the still water. No people, no face, no painted letters. The misty sky is the quiet area. Dawn: soft grey first light, no bright sun.

‹♪ The moon is on the lake, and I wait for you at the stone table. ♪›♪ 月亮照在湖心上，石桌旁边我等你 ♪

Grey first light, mist. Grandpa sits alone at his stone table on his stool at the LEFT, in his cardigan over his sleep clothes and cloth shoes, the carved board set out for two, his tea glass and a second empty glass beside it, facing across the table and the water towards the lit screen far off; the far stool is empty. Xiaoyu arrives at the RIGHT edge, out of breath, one hand on her side. Two faces, Grandpa's the clearest, in the upper middle of the picture; the grey stone below is the quiet area. A feeling picture. Dawn: soft grey first light, no bright sun.

Grandpa was at the stone table where he had met Grandma in 1975.外公坐在石桌旁。一九七五年，他就是在这里认识外婆的。

Same grey dawn. Xiaoyu now sits on the far stool at the RIGHT facing Grandpa across the board; Grandpa at the LEFT is calm and glad of her, the lit screen small across the water behind her. Two faces in the middle band; the misty sky above is the quiet area. Dawn: soft grey first light, no bright sun.

‹Meilan is singing on the lake. She'll come soon.›美兰在湖上唱歌呢，一会儿就过来了。

Same dawn. Close on Xiaoyu looking LEFT at Grandpa off panel, gentle. Her face in the middle of the panel; the misty sky behind is the quiet area. Dawn: soft grey first light, no bright sun.

‹Grandpa, a machine made that voice.›外公，屏幕上那个声音是机器做的。

Same dawn, the first light on his face. Close on Grandpa looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel, clear now, sad and smiling. His face in the middle of the panel; the misty sky behind is the quiet area. Dawn: soft grey first light, no bright sun.

‹I know it is a machine. But she sounds so near.›我知道是机器。可听着，就跟她在跟前一样。

Lantern said the voice belonged to no one. Grandpa had gone out in the dark to meet it.小灯说，这声音不归任何人。可外公摸黑出门，就是为了去见它。

Nine in the morning, soft light. Xiaoyu sits alone at the round table, holding the labelled cassette in both hands, its label towards her so we see only its plain edge, the shoebox of old tapes open beside her. One face, looking down, in the upper middle of the panel; the table below is the quiet area. A feeling picture.

Then I remembered. In July 2032 Haoran had made copies of all of Grandma's old tapes.这时我想起来了。二〇三二年七月，浩然把外婆的老磁带全拷了一份。

I had never asked him what became of those copies.那些拷贝后来去了哪儿，我一次也没问过他。

Monday 19 April, three in the afternoon, white light. Teo sits at the long desk at the LEFT and Xiaoyu at the RIGHT, her recording of Grandma's old tape open on her laptop (its back to us). Teo looks RIGHT at her, so we see his bare LEFT ear. Two faces in the middle band; the pale wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque.

On Monday I told Teo about Haoran's copies of Grandma's tapes.星期一，我把浩然拷过外婆磁带的事告诉了特奥。

Lantern will just say Grandma sounded like a lot of old women.小灯肯定又说，外婆的声音跟好多老太太都差不多。

Same afternoon. Close on Xiaoyu lifting her head, the idea arriving, looking LEFT at Teo off panel. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

Anyone can sound like Grandma. Only our tapes have Grandpa's song.声音像外婆的人多的是。可外公那首歌，只有我们家的磁带上有。

Same afternoon. Close on Teo looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel, so we see his bare LEFT ear, struck by the thought. His face in the middle of the panel; the pale window wall behind is the quiet area.

Then Lantern's program memorised Grandpa's song too.那小灯的程序学的就不只是外婆的声音，连外公那首歌也背下来了。

Same afternoon at the long desk. Xiaoyu at the RIGHT holds a sheet of thin see-through tracing paper over a printed page of music notes on the desk, and every pencil line on the tracing paper sits exactly on a printed note; Teo at the LEFT leans in to look, so we see his bare LEFT ear. No letters, only notes and staff lines. Two faces low in the lower middle of the panel; the bright window wall above is the quiet area for the box. The people are solid and opaque.

MEMORISING. Programs like this mostly learn general patterns. But they can also memorise rare or repeated things word for word. In 2021 researchers got a program called GPT-2 to repeat hundreds of passages it had learned from, names and phone numbers among them.死记硬背。这类程序学到的多半是一般规律，但碰上少见或反复出现的内容，也会一字不差地记住。2021年，研究者让语言模型GPT-2吐出了几百段训练文本的原文，其中就有人名和电话号码。

One day I'll look inside it and find where it keeps the song.总有一天，我要打开它，看看歌藏在哪儿。

Same afternoon. Xiaoyu stands up from the long desk, her sky-blue phone in her RIGHT hand, decided, looking LEFT and down at Teo off panel. One face in the upper middle of the panel; the desk below is the quiet area.

Only Haoran ever made copies of Grandma's tapes. I'm calling him tonight.只有浩然拷过外婆的磁带。我今晚就打给他。

Monday 19 April, eleven at night in Bridge City, the desk lamp. Over Xiaoyu's LEFT shoulder from behind, her ponytail in the RIGHT foreground, as she sits at her desk holding her phone in both hands; on the phone's lit screen, small and clear, Haoran in a plain San Francisco office in morning light (eight in the morning there), a tall window behind him onto a steep hill of pastel houses, a coffee cup at the edge of his desk. One face (Haoran's, small), turned a little to the viewer's LEFT so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud. The dim room around is the quiet area.

I called Haoran at eleven that night. In San Francisco it was eight in the morning.那天晚上十一点，我打给浩然。旧金山正是早上八点。

Haoran, Lantern's advert sings Grandpa's song in Grandma's voice.浩然，小灯的广告在用外婆的嗓子唱外公的歌。

Same night. The phone screen alone fills the panel: Haoran close on it in his office in morning light, sure of himself, turned a little to the viewer's LEFT so we see his LEFT ear with the one white earbud in it. His face in the middle of the panel; the pale office wall behind is the quiet area.

That's impossible. I deleted the voice I made. You watched me do it.不可能。我做的那个声音早删了，你亲眼看着的。

Same night. Close on Xiaoyu at her desk looking at the phone held in her hands (we see only the back of the phone, its glow on her face), steady. Her face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. Night: any window is dark night blue, the room lit only by a warm lamp, no daylight.

You deleted the voice you made. What happened to your copies of Grandma's old tapes?你删的是你做的声音。外婆那些老磁带的拷贝呢？

Same night. The phone screen alone fills the panel: Haoran gone pale, his RIGHT hand pushing up his square glasses, looking down and away. His face in the upper middle of the panel; the pale office wall and the coffee cup below are the quiet area.

They are in Lantern's oldest archive of recordings, from 2032. I never deleted them.还在小灯最老的录音库里，2032年存进去的。我一直没删。

Give me a few hours.给我几个钟头。

Tuesday 20 April, seven in the morning, grey-gold morning at the small kitchen window. Xiaoyu sits side-on at the small kitchen table at the RIGHT, leaning in, still in her cardigan from yesterday, her sky-blue phone propped against her tea glass with its back to us. One face in the middle band; the pale wall above is the quiet area.

Haoran called back at seven next morning, four in the afternoon in San Francisco. He sounded as if he had not slept.第二天早上七点，浩然回电话了，旧金山是下午四点。听声音，他一夜没睡。

Last December, on the hotel roof in San Francisco, I told you Lantern was gathering every old voice it could find.去年十二月在旧金山，酒店天台上，我跟你说过，小灯在到处收老人的声音，能找到的都要。

Same morning. Xiaoyu's sky-blue phone screen alone fills the panel, showing a shared folder list Haoran has sent, painted BLANK, the words lettered in afterwards. No person. The pale wood around it is the quiet area.

Lantern archive 2032 > Bridge City old voices > Meilan, tapes 1 to 12, copied July 2032小灯资料库 2032 > 桥城老人录音 > 美兰磁带1–12 2032年7月拷贝

Same morning. The phone screen alone fills the panel: Haoran close on it, hollow-eyed, the San Francisco office behind him now in late-afternoon light. His face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

My team took it, and old people's night talks too.是我的人拿的，连老人们夜里的话也拿了。

Same morning. Close on Xiaoyu at the kitchen table, her LEFT hand at her mouth, her black watch on that wrist, horrified. Her face in the middle band of the panel; the pale kitchen wall behind is the quiet area.

Our neighbour Mr Sun's night too? The night he begged Willow three times for a doctor and it played music?连楼下孙爷爷那一夜也在？他求了小柳三回叫医生，它倒放起音乐来的那一夜？

Same morning. Xiaoyu sits low in the picture at the kitchen table, looking down, small. On the table in front of her, beside Willow's white pill box with its orange light, an old cassette recorder sits with its little red record light glowing and its tape turning. Her face in the lower middle of the panel; the window above, with grey-gold light, is the quiet area for the box.

Yes. Willow saved what he said. Nobody asked Mr Sun.在。小柳把那一夜存下来了，谁也没问过孙爷爷。

WHAT WE SAY CAN BE KEPT. What people say to a voice assistant may be stored, heard by staff, or used to train it. In 2023 Amazon paid 25 million dollars to settle US charges that it kept children's Alexa recordings too long and made it hard for parents to delete them.说出口的话，可能被存着。对语音助手说的话，可能会存档、让工作人员听到，或者用来训练它。2023年，美国指控亚马逊把孩子的Alexa录音存得太久，还让家长难以删除。亚马逊付了2500万美元和解。

Friday 23 April, four in the afternoon, warm afternoon light. At the open front door and dark green metal gate at the LEFT, Grandpa reaches up to pat Haoran's arm with his RIGHT hand; Haoran, in his charcoal jacket and white t-shirt, stoops to him with a travel bag on his RIGHT shoulder. Mira, half a head taller than Xiaoyu, stands a step behind Haoran in the doorway. Xiaoyu stands at the RIGHT by the round table with her arms folded. Three clear faces (Grandpa, Haoran, Xiaoyu), Mira's smaller. The people are solid and opaque. The door and the gate are both swung OPEN against the wall; Grandpa stands just inside the flat, Haoran in the gateway on the threshold, Mira a step behind him on the landing side, nobody behind the bars.

On Friday Haoran flew in. Mira, his work partner at Lantern, came too.星期五，浩然飞回来了，同来的还有他在小灯的搭档米拉。

‹Haoran! You've come back so thin. Don't they feed you in America?›浩然！怎么瘦成这样了？美国人不给你饭吃啊？

Same afternoon. Close on Mira seated at the round table, turned towards the viewer's LEFT towards Grandpa's armchair off panel, her hands folded on the table, warm and serious. We see her LEFT side; the Lantern earbud in her far RIGHT ear is hidden. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

Mr Chen, I'm Mira. I am so sorry about what was done with your wife's voice.陈爷爷，我是米拉。您太太的声音给拿去这么用，我真的很抱歉。

Same afternoon. Close on Grandpa in the olive armchair looking RIGHT across the room at Mira off panel, pointing with his RIGHT forefinger at his own ear, one eyebrow up. His face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

‹That little thing in your ear understands my dialect now? Whose voices taught it?›你耳朵里那个小玩意儿，现在也听得懂桥城话了？它是听谁的声音学会的？

Same afternoon. At the round table, Mira at the LEFT is turned three-quarter to the viewer's RIGHT, so we see her RIGHT ear with the small clear Lantern earbud; with her RIGHT hand she slides a few clipped printed pages across to Xiaoyu, who sits at the RIGHT with her hands in her lap, not touching them. The pages lie flat on the table turned towards Xiaoyu, seen at a low angle from the side, nothing readable on them. Two faces in the middle band; the pale wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque.

Lantern will take the advert down tonight, delete the copies of your grandmother's tapes, and pay your family.今晚小灯就撤下广告，删除你外婆磁带的拷贝，并给你们家赔偿。

Our lawyers say a made voice belongs to no one. We only ask that this stays private.我们的律师说，合成的声音不归任何人。我们只求这件事别公开。

Same afternoon. Haoran stands at the balcony glass doors at the back RIGHT, arms folded, angry at himself, turned three-quarter to the viewer's LEFT so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud. One face in the upper middle of the panel; the floor below is the quiet area. The person is solid and opaque; reflections only on empty glass.

No deal, Mira. Tomorrow I shut down Willow's dialect service and fire the whole team.没得谈，米拉。明天我就停掉小柳的方言服务，整个组全部开除。

Friday 23 April, eight in the evening, the lamp on, the balcony glass dark. Mira stands at the LEFT by the round table, turned to Haoran at the RIGHT by the balcony doors; Grandpa dozes small in the olive armchair in the far LEFT corner. Two clear faces (Mira, Haoran), Grandpa's small. The people are solid and opaque; reflections only on empty glass.

That evening Mira and Haoran argued in our living room, while Grandpa dozed in his armchair.那天晚上，米拉和浩然在我家客厅吵了起来。外公靠在扶手椅上打盹。

Shut it down, and the old people Willow finally understands go unheard again. Mr Chen too.你一关，小柳好不容易听懂的老人，又没人听了。陈爷爷也是。

Same evening. Close on Mira, three-quarter to the viewer's RIGHT so we see her RIGHT ear with the clear earbud, practical, not cold, looking RIGHT at Haoran off panel. Her face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. Evening: any window is dark, the room lit by a warm lamp, no daylight.

Without them, relearning takes months and lots of power.没这些录音，重教方言得好几个月，费一大堆电。

Same evening. Close on Haoran looking LEFT at Mira off panel, so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud, jaw set. His face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. Evening: any window is dark, the room lit by a warm lamp, no daylight.

Then we spend it. Taking them was my fault.那就花这个电。错在我。

Same evening, one in the afternoon in Edinburgh. Xiaoyu's sky-blue phone, propped against the tea glass on the round table, fills the panel with its screen, Mama on it at her Edinburgh kitchen table in midday light, in her oatmeal-cream jumper, worn out. Her face in the middle band of the panel; the pale kitchen wall behind her is the quiet area.

Sign Lantern's agreement, Xiaoyu. Let my mother rest.小雨，把小灯的协议签了吧。让我妈安息吧。

Same evening, dark outside. Xiaoyu stands at the round table at the RIGHT, low in the picture, the unsigned clipped pages under her LEFT hand, her black watch on that wrist, looking out of the window. Through the window, across the dark lake at night, one huge windowless grey building glows with rows of small lights, white steam rising from its roof and power lines running to it. The room is lit by one warm lamp. Her face in the lower middle of the panel; the night sky above is the quiet area for the box.

It isn't only Grandma's voice. It's Mr Sun's night, and everyone who ever talked to Willow.不只是外婆的声音。还有孙爷爷那一夜，还有每一个跟小柳说过话的人。

THE ELECTRICITY BEHIND IT. AI runs on big computer centres that use electricity, and often water for cooling. One chat question uses very little. Training one big model takes far more. A 2021 study put GPT-3's training at 1,287 megawatt-hours, a year's power for 120 homes.背后的电。AI在大型数据中心里运行，要用电，散热往往还要用水。问聊天助手一个问题，耗电很少；训练一个大模型，耗电就多得多。2021年的一项研究估算，训练GPT-3大约用了128.7万度电。

Saturday 24 April, ten in the morning, bright empty lab. Professor Lin stands at her standing desk at the LEFT holding Xiaoyu's printed pages in her LEFT hand (we see their backs). Xiaoyu stands at the RIGHT with her canvas tote on her LEFT shoulder. Two faces in the middle band; the pale wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque.

On Saturday I showed Professor Lin the song and Haoran's archive list.星期六，我把那首歌和浩然的资料库清单拿给林老师看。

‹That song proves where Lantern's data came from. Publish it.›这首歌就能证明小灯的数据从哪儿来。发出去吧。

Same morning. Close on Professor Lin looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel, sharp. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

‹If you wait, Lantern will hide it in a private deal.›再等下去，小灯就会私下了结，把这事捂住。

Same morning. Close on Teo at the long desk, turned to the viewer's LEFT so we see his RIGHT ear with the clear earbud, quiet, looking LEFT at Lin off panel. His face in the middle of the panel; the pale window wall behind is the quiet area.

Or you give the proof to Haoran, and he tells the story himself.要不，你把证据交给浩然，让他自己说出来。

Same morning. Close on Xiaoyu looking down at the printed pages in her hands (we see their backs), thinking. Her face in the upper middle of the panel; the pale floor below is the quiet area.

If I published it, Lantern would be caught. If Haoran told it, Lantern might change.我要是发表，小灯只是被人揪出来；让浩然自己讲，小灯兴许会改。

Saturday evening, half past six, dusk, the lit screen across the water. On the lake path by the stone tables, Haoran at the RIGHT is already holding a thin grey card folder, A4, in both hands against his chest (the hand-off is over; paint the moment after); Xiaoyu at the LEFT, her hands down, faces him. Two faces in the upper middle of the picture; the path below is the quiet area. Haoran is turned three-quarter to the viewer's LEFT, so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

Here are the song, the tapes and your archive list. I could publish them on Monday.歌、磁带和你的资料库清单，都在这儿。我周一就能发表。

I'd rather you told it yourself. But first, ask the people whose voices you took.我更希望你自己讲。不过你得先去问问，那些声音被你们拿走的人。

Sunday 25 April, seven in the morning, a clear spring morning, the screen across the lake still lit. At Grandpa's stone table Grandpa sits on his stool at the LEFT; Auntie Zhang sits on the far stool; Haoran stands at the right-hand end of the table, hands empty at his sides, speaking, so we see his bare RIGHT ear; at the next table in the RIGHT middle distance Mr Sun sits on a stool; Xiaoyu stands a step back at the far RIGHT edge, her hands still. The carved board and the tea glass on the stone; Willow's cream band on Grandpa's LEFT wrist. Four clear faces at most, Xiaoyu's small. The big quiet sky above is the area for the captions. The people are solid and opaque.

On Sunday morning Haoran came to the stone tables and told the old people what Lantern had taken.星期天早上，浩然来到石桌边，把小灯拿了大家什么，一五一十跟老人们说了。

This time they spoke for themselves.这回，他们自己开了口。

Same morning. Close on Mr Sun, thin and wiry, in his pale yellow checked shirt buttoned to the top, looking RIGHT and up at Haoran off panel, quiet and proud, his LEFT hand over the cream band on his LEFT wrist. His face in the middle of the panel; the willow behind is the quiet area.

‹You taught your machine my worst night? Nobody asked me.›我最难熬的那一夜，倒成了你们机器的教材？也没人问我一声！

Same morning. Close on Auntie Zhang, short and sturdy, grey short hair, arms folded, looking RIGHT at Haoran off panel, plain and direct. Her face in the middle of the panel; the willow behind is the quiet area.

‹Xiaoyu told Ms Ye last autumn to ask and pay for our voices. Now do it.›去年秋天，小雨就跟你们那个叶岚说了，要用先问，还得给钱。现在照办吧！

Same morning. Close on Grandpa on his stool looking LEFT across the water at the lit screen far off, we see his RIGHT side (the notebook pocket is hidden against the picture's edge), steady. His face in the middle band of the panel; the pale sky above and the water below are the quiet area.

‹The voice on the lake sings every note right. My Meilan never did.›湖上那个声音，个个音都准。我家美兰唱歌，从来没唱准过。

Same morning. Grandpa sits on his stool at the LEFT looking up and RIGHT at Haoran, who stands at the RIGHT, three-quarter to the viewer's LEFT so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud, listening. Two faces in the upper middle of the picture; the grey stone below is the quiet area. A feeling picture.

‹It was made out of Meilan, and she never said yes. Take her voice down.›那是拿美兰的声音做的，她可从没点过头。把她的声音撤了吧。

Tuesday 27 April, ten in the morning, hazy spring light, the red pillars, new willow leaves. Haoran sits at the round stone table in the middle facing a plain black phone clamped upright on a short black tripod on the table; we see the back of the phone and one tiny lit dot, nothing of its screen. On the bench behind him sit Grandpa, Mr Sun and Auntie Zhang, small. Xiaoyu stands at a red pillar at the RIGHT. Haoran's face is the clearest. The people are solid and opaque. The hazy roof beams above are the area for the caption.

On Tuesday Haoran spoke to the whole country, live, from the pavilion where, at eighteen, he had first shown Lantern to the old men.星期二，浩然在湖边亭子里对全国直播。十八岁那年，他头一回把小灯拿给老人们看，就在这儿。

Same morning. Close on Haoran looking straight ahead towards the phone on the table, which is towards us, plain and steady, the white earbud in his LEFT ear. His face in the middle of the panel; the hazy pavilion beams behind are the quiet area.

‹We said that voice was no one's. It was a local grandmother's.›小灯说，广告里的声音不归任何人。可它其实是咱们桥城一位老奶奶的。

Same morning, the same framing. Close on Haoran, his eyes lowering a little and then lifting again to the phone, the white earbud in his LEFT ear. His face in the middle of the panel; the hazy beams behind are the quiet area.

‹I copied her tapes in 2032, and asked no one.›2032年我拷了她的磁带，谁也没问。

Same morning. Mira comes up the pavilion steps at the LEFT and stops beside Haoran's seat, her RIGHT hand on the edge of the round stone table, three-quarter to the viewer's RIGHT so we see her RIGHT ear with the clear Lantern earbud. Haoran, seated, turns his head LEFT to her, surprised, so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud. Two faces in the middle band; the hazy beams above are the area for the caption. The people are solid and opaque.

Mira had argued against this for days. Now she walked up the steps and stood beside him.米拉一连几天都反对这件事。这会儿，她走上台阶，站到了他身边。

Same morning. Haoran sits and Mira stands beside him behind the round stone table, both facing the tripod phone (its back to us); Grandpa sits small on the bench behind them. Haoran at the LEFT, Mira at the RIGHT, both looking straight ahead. Two clear faces in the upper middle of the picture; the stone table below is the quiet area. A feeling picture.

‹Lantern will delete every voice it took unasked.›没经同意拿来的声音，小灯一个不留，全部删除。

‹We'll ask, pay those who agree, and label machine voices.›往后我们先问人家，答应的都给钱。机器做的声音，一定讲明白。

Wednesday 28 April, ten in the morning, white light. We sit at the back of the lab. Teo and Xiaoyu sit at the long desk in the foreground, three-quarter from behind. The big wall screen at the front of the lab shows a news page, painted BLANK, the words lettered in afterwards; we look at it from the back of the room, as they do. Professor Lin stands small at her standing desk by the window. Two small faces. The pale wall above is the area for the caption. The people are solid and opaque.

By the next morning the whole country was talking about it. Some people online said Haoran's video was itself a fake.第二天一早，全国都在议论这件事。网上有人说，浩然那段视频本身就是假的。

Lantern's founder admits it used old people's voices without asking小灯创始人承认，未经同意使用老人声音

Same morning. Close on Teo looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel, so we see his bare LEFT ear. His face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

Fakes help liars too. Caught on tape, they say it's fake.造假也帮了骗子。真录音抓住他，他就说是假的。

Same morning. Close on Professor Lin at her standing desk, looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel, not unkind. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale window behind is the quiet area.

‹You gave away a good paper, Xiaoyu. You could have published the proof.›小雨，你白白送出去一篇好论文。这证据，本来你自己就能发表。

Same morning. Close on Xiaoyu looking LEFT at Professor Lin off panel, calm. Her face in the middle band of the panel; the pale wall above is the quiet area.

‹I gave Haoran the chance to tell the truth himself, Professor Lin.›林老师，我是想让浩然自己把真相说出来。

Same morning. Teo at the LEFT and Xiaoyu at the RIGHT sit low at the long desk. Teo holds a red rubber stamp above a printed photograph on the desk of an ordinary man speaking at a microphone, about to stamp it; the stamp's face shows only a big red X. Xiaoyu's hand is half raised to stop him. Teo is turned slightly towards the viewer's RIGHT, so we see his RIGHT ear with the clear earbud. Two faces low in the lower middle of the panel; the bright wall above is the quiet area for the box. The people are solid and opaque.

WHEN THE TRUTH IS CALLED FAKE. Tools that make lovely voices can also fake real people. In 2019 two law professors warned of a quieter harm. Once everyone knows fakes are possible, a person caught on a real recording can claim it is fake. So check where a recording came from.真的被说成假的。能合成好听声音的工具，也能用来冒充真人。2019年，两位法学教授提醒人们注意一种更隐蔽的危害。既然人人都知道可以造假，被真录音录下的人，也能一口咬定那是伪造的。所以，要先查清录音的来源。

Saturday 1 May, seven in the morning, clear. At the stone table Grandpa sits at the LEFT and Xiaoyu at the RIGHT over the carved board; across the lake the tower screen is dark (no glow, no halo). Two small faces; the sky above is quiet and is the area for the captions.

On 1 May the screen across the lake stayed dark. At night Willow now spoke in a plain voice, and said it was a machine.五月一日，湖对面的大屏幕始终黑着。夜里的小柳换成了普普通通的机器声，还会告诉大家它是机器。

Haoran never said Grandma's name in public, as Mama had wished. She asked me to thank him.浩然在公开场合始终没提外婆的名字，妈妈的心愿算是成了。她让我替她谢谢他。

Nine in the evening, the lamp. Close on the silver tape player on the side table, an old cassette with a yellowed label (blurred and blank) in its window, the reels turning, Grandpa's RIGHT forefinger just leaving the PLAY key with the green dot. No face. The wooden table around is the quiet area.

‹♪ The moon is on the lake… ♪ Oh, I can't get it right!›♪ 月亮照在湖心上…… ♪ 哎呀，我怎么就唱不准呢！

Same evening. Close on Grandpa in the olive armchair, laughing with wet eyes, looking down and LEFT at the tape player off panel. His face in the middle of the panel; the dim wall behind is the quiet area. A feeling picture. Evening: any window is dark, the room lit by a warm lamp, no daylight.

‹That's my Meilan. Not one note right!›这才是我的美兰！一个音都没唱准！

June, nine in the morning, hot and bright, cicadas, lotus leaves on the lake beyond. Grandpa sits at the round stone table at the LEFT in his grey cardigan, a signed form lying face down by his RIGHT hand. Haoran sits at the RIGHT on the bench in his pale blue summer shirt, holding a small dark grey recorder in his RIGHT hand, its foam end a hand's width from Grandpa's mouth, his LEFT hand open on his knee. Haoran is turned three-quarter to the viewer's LEFT, so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud. Two faces in the upper middle of the picture; the stone table below is the quiet area. A feeling picture.

Haoran stayed in Bridge City for the summer. He recorded only people who said yes, and paid them.那年夏天，浩然留在了桥城。他只录点了头的人，还都付了钱。

‹This time you asked me first. So go ahead and record my stories, Haoran.›这回你先问了我。行，浩然，我那些故事你尽管录。

A July night, warm and still, a thin moon, the lamps on the path making gold pools on the water, pink lotus dark on the lake. On the arched stone bridge, which lands on dry ground at both ends, Xiaoyu in her white t-shirt and Haoran in his pale blue shirt lean on the stone rail side by side, seen from behind and a little to the side, her head on his shoulder. No clear faces. Big quiet night sky above for the caption. A feeling picture.

And for one summer, Haoran and I were a couple at last.那个夏天，我和浩然终于在一起了。

Friday 20 August, four in the afternoon, hot white light, the blinds half down. At Professor Lin's standing desk, Lin stands at the LEFT with her hands on the desk; Xiaoyu, in a plain white t-shirt, stands at the RIGHT already holding a printed letter in both hands, the hand-off over (we see the back of the letter). Two faces in the middle band; the pale wall above is the quiet area. The people are solid and opaque.

One Friday in August, Professor Lin called me to her desk.八月的一个星期五，林老师把我叫到她办公桌前。

‹A lab in Zurich that looks inside AI programs has offered you a place from next January.›苏黎世有个实验室，专门拆开AI程序看里面，请你明年一月去。

Same afternoon. Close on Professor Lin looking RIGHT at Xiaoyu off panel, intent, almost warm. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

‹It's the work you came for, Xiaoyu. Go.›小雨，这正是你当初来读书想做的。什么都别让它拦着你。

Same afternoon. Close on Xiaoyu reading the letter held in both hands (we see only its back), stunned, joy beginning. Her face in the middle of the panel; the pale wall behind is the quiet area.

I had wanted exactly this work since I was eighteen.从十八岁起，我盼的就是这份工作。

The same Friday, half past seven in the evening, dusk, rose and gold, the lotus out. On the arched stone bridge, which lands on dry ground at both ends, Haoran at the RIGHT, happy, points with his RIGHT hand at a small white solar boat on the lake; he is turned towards the viewer's LEFT towards Xiaoyu and the boat, so we see his LEFT ear with the white earbud. Xiaoyu at the LEFT smiles, quiet, her canvas tote on her LEFT shoulder. Two faces in the middle band; the rose sky above is the quiet area. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

Next summer, let's take Grandpa out on the lake in one of the solar boats.明年夏天，咱们带外公坐一回湖上的太阳能小船吧。

Same dusk. Close on Xiaoyu at the bridge rail, the low sun on her face, looking RIGHT at Haoran off panel, her LEFT hand resting on the tote bag at her side. One face in the upper middle of the picture; the rose water below is the quiet area. A feeling picture. Dusk light only: deep blue and rose sky, no bright daytime sun.

The letter from Zurich was in my bag. I did not tell him that night.苏黎世的来信就在我包里。那天晚上，我没告诉他。

Next: Chapter 16. Aim It Right下一章：第十六章瞄准

The ideas, a little slower

The lake, the tapes and the pavilion are in the pictures. Here are the ideas in words.

On pages 1 and 5 Lantern's advert sings in a voice made from somebody who was never asked, and Teo says where such voices come from. Large models learn from enormous collections of text, images, audio and video, much of it gathered from the public internet. Did the people who made all that agree to it? Much of the data was collected without asking. As of 2026 whether that is lawful is contested in courts and parliaments in several countries, and different places are reaching different answers. The ethical point is simpler. Many people did not know, and many feel it should have been their choice. As of 2026 speech systems can also imitate a particular voice from a short recording. That is why the question from Chapter 11, "Did she agree?", matters so much. Meilan could not be asked, and in the story Grandpa answered for her.

On page 10 Teo says the program memorised Grandpa's song. Models mostly learn general patterns, but they can also memorise specific pieces of their training data, and this is more likely for things that are unusual or that appear many times. In 2021 Nicholas Carlini and colleagues extracted hundreds of word-for-word passages from GPT-2, including names, phone numbers and email addresses that had appeared on the web. In 2023 Milad Nasr and colleagues got a production chat assistant to reproduce training text by asking it to repeat a single word forever. These studies are about text. A voice program memorising one family's song is the story's way of showing the same idea. Grandpa's song works as the clue because it is unusual and exists nowhere else.

On page 12 Haoran finds that Willow kept what old people said to it at night. Conversations with chat assistants and recordings from voice assistants may be stored, heard by people who work to improve the system, or used for further training, depending on the company and the settings. In 2023 the US Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice reached a 25 million dollar settlement with Amazon over allegations that it kept children's Alexa recordings longer than allowed and undermined parents' requests to delete them. Italy's data protection authority also blocked ChatGPT for a month in 2023 over data-protection concerns, and it was allowed back on 28 April after changes.

On page 14 Mira says that teaching Willow again would take a mountain of electricity. AI runs on computers in data centres, and computers use electricity and often water for cooling. Patterson and colleagues estimated in 2021 that training GPT-3 used about 1,287 megawatt-hours and emitted about 552 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. They also stressed that the hardware, the data centre and its location could change the emissions by a factor of 100 to 1,000. The open model BLOOM, trained in France on a largely nuclear-powered grid, was estimated at about 24.7 tonnes for the training energy alone, or about 50.5 tonnes counting the equipment and other overheads (Luccioni, Viguier and Ligozat, 2023). An early, widely quoted paper by Strubell and colleagues (2019) first raised the issue, but its largest figure was later argued to be a big overestimate and should not be quoted as typical. Using a model costs energy too, and it happens billions of times. Generating images takes far more energy than classifying text (Luccioni, Jernite and Strubell, 2024). In 2025 Google reported that its median Gemini text prompt used about 0.24 watt-hours of energy, 0.03 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent and 0.26 millilitres of water. That is less than watching television for nine seconds, but it is a company figure that has not been independently audited, and it leaves out training. For the whole sector, the International Energy Agency estimated that data centres used about 415 terawatt-hours in 2024, about 1.5 percent of the world's electricity, and projected about 945 terawatt-hours by 2030 in its base case. In the United States, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated 176 terawatt-hours, or 4.4 percent, in 2023, and roughly 6.7 to 12 percent by 2028. Li and colleagues estimated that training GPT-3 in Microsoft's US data centres may have evaporated around 700,000 litres of fresh water, a model-based estimate rather than a measurement. So the honest reading is balanced. One question uses very little. The worry is scale, and where the power and water come from. AI may also help, for example with weather forecasts and managing the power grid. The cheap clean power of Bridge City in 2038 is imagined.

On page 18 Teo names a second harm of fakes. In 2019 Robert Chesney and Danielle Citron called it the liar's dividend. When everyone knows that fakes are possible, a person caught on a real recording can say it is fake. Real cases exist now. In January 2024 voters in New Hampshire got robocalls with an AI imitation of President Biden's voice, and the Federal Communications Commission later fined the consultant responsible 6 million dollars. Chapter 11 told the Arup case. The responses are content credentials such as the C2PA standard, invisible watermarks, detection tools that work imperfectly and can be fooled, and law. The European Union's AI Act (Article 50) requires that people be told when they are talking to an AI and that certain AI-generated content be marked, from 2 August 2026. Haoran's promise on page 17, to say whenever a voice is made by a machine, is this idea. The oldest defence still matters most. Check where a recording came from.

One last sentence for families. A voice assistant is not a secret-keeper, so keep names, addresses and private things for people you trust, look at its settings and delete old recordings, ask before you record or copy anyone's voice, and keep a family password for urgent calls, as Xiaoyu and Mama did in Chapter 11.

What is true here

Children's data in law

In the United States the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act requires a parent's consent before online services collect personal information from children under 13. In the European Union, Article 8 of the General Data Protection Regulation sets an age, between 13 and 16 depending on the country, below which a parent must consent for certain online services. UNICEF's guidance on AI and children names data protection and privacy as a core requirement. In September 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission used its study powers to require seven companies that offer AI companion chatbots (Alphabet, Character.AI, Instagram, Meta, OpenAI, Snap and xAI) to report how they test for harms to children and teenagers and how they handle children's data.

Ways to share less

Differential privacy adds carefully measured randomness so that results do not reveal any one person's data (Dwork and colleagues, 2006). Data minimisation means collecting only what is needed. Some assistants now run on the device instead of in the cloud. None of these is a complete answer. The most reliable protection for a family is still the simplest, which is not to share private things with a machine.

The worst fakes, as of 2026

The 2026 amendment to the EU AI Act adds a ban, from 2 December 2026, on AI systems that generate intimate images of real people without their consent, or sexual images of children.

SourcesCarlini and colleagues (2021), Extracting training data from large language models.Nasr and colleagues (2023), Scalable extraction of training data from (production) language models.Federal Trade Commission (2023), FTC and DOJ charge Amazon with violating children's privacy law by keeping kids' Alexa voice recordings forever and undermining parents' deletion requests.Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (2023), Artificial intelligence, stop to ChatGPT by the Italian SA.Federal Trade Commission (2025), FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions.UNICEF (2021), Policy Guidance on AI for Children; UNICEF (2025), Guidance on AI and Children.Dwork, McSherry, Nissim and Smith (2006), Calibrating noise to sensitivity in private data analysis.Strubell, Ganesh and McCallum (2019), Energy and policy considerations for deep learning in NLP.Patterson and colleagues (2021), Carbon emissions and large neural network training.Luccioni, Viguier and Ligozat (2023), Estimating the carbon footprint of BLOOM, a 176B parameter language model.Luccioni, Jernite and Strubell (2024), Power hungry processing.Elsworth and colleagues (2025), Measuring the environmental impact of delivering AI at Google scale.International Energy Agency (2025), Energy and AI.Shehabi and colleagues (2024), 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report.Li, Yang, Islam and Ren (2025), Making AI less thirsty.Chesney and Citron (2019), Deep fakes, a looming challenge for privacy, democracy, and national security.Federal Communications Commission (2024), Forfeiture order on the New Hampshire robocalls.European Union (2024), Regulation (EU) 2024/1689; European Union (2026), Regulation (EU) 2026/1744.

What is pretend

Bridge City and everyone in it are made up. So is the whole world of 2038, with its garden towers, solar boats and cheap clean power. Lantern, Willow, its dialect launch, its advert, the tool that made the advert and its archive are made up, and so are the made voice in the advert and every word it says or sings. The dialect team, what it gathered, and Willow keeping night recordings and learning from them are made up too. So are Lantern's answers, Mira's agreement, Haoran's live talk, Lantern's promises, Willow's new night voice, and the lab in Zurich and its offer. Grandpa's song "The Moon on the Lake" and Meilan's tapes are the story's, from Chapter 11. The research has measured memorising in text, not in a voice program learning one family's song, and the story uses the song to show the idea. Grandpa's memory is drawn from no one in particular, and the story makes no medical claim. Whether a made voice of someone who has died comforts or hurts is something families weigh for themselves. In this story Meilan could not be asked, and Grandpa answered for her.

Who made this

Yingying Fu created this manga. She chose the story and its people, directed every page, and edited every word and picture. The words were drafted with Claude, an AI by Anthropic. The pictures are made with AI image generation, painted panel by panel from her direction and checked and corrected by hand.

再慢慢讲一遍

湖、磁带和亭子都画在画里了。这里用文字把背后的道理再讲一讲。

第一页和第五页，小灯的广告用一个声音唱歌，可这声音取自一个从没被问过的人。特奥讲了这类声音是从哪儿来的。大模型要靠海量的文字、图片、音频和视频训练，其中很多是从公开网络上收集的。创造这些内容的人同意了吗？很多数据收集时，根本没问过谁。截至2026年，这样做是否合法，好几个国家的法院和议会还在争论，各地得出的结论也不一样。伦理上的道理要简单些。很多人并不知情，也有很多人觉得，这本该由自己决定。截至2026年，语音系统只凭一小段录音，就能模仿某个人的声音。所以第十一章那个问题，“她同意了吗？”，才这样要紧。美兰已经没法回答，故事里是外公替她答的。

第十页，特奥说程序把外公的歌背了下来。模型学到的大多是一般规律，但也会记住训练数据里的具体片段，少见的内容和反复出现的内容尤其容易被记住。2021年，尼古拉斯·卡利尼等人从GPT-2里提取出几百段一字不差的原文，其中有在网上出现过的人名、电话号码和电子邮箱。2023年，米拉德·纳斯尔等人让一个已经上线的聊天助手不停地重复同一个词，结果它吐出了训练文本。这些研究针对的都是文字。故事里让语音程序背下一家人的歌，是借来说明同一个道理。外公的歌能成为线索，正因为它少见，除了这家人的磁带，哪儿都没有。

第十二页，浩然发现小柳存下了老人们夜里对它说的话。跟聊天助手的对话、语音助手的录音，可能会被保存，让改进系统的工作人员听到，或者用于进一步训练，具体要看是哪家公司、怎么设置。2023年，美国联邦贸易委员会和司法部与亚马逊达成2500万美元的和解。两部门指控亚马逊保存儿童Alexa录音的时间超出规定，还阻挠家长的删除请求。同年，意大利数据保护机构出于数据保护方面的担忧，把ChatGPT封了一个月，整改后于4月28日恢复。

第十四页，米拉说，重新教小柳要耗掉一大堆电。AI运行在数据中心的计算机上，计算机要用电，散热往往还要用水。帕特森等人2021年估算，训练GPT-3大约用了1287兆瓦时电，排放了约552吨二氧化碳当量。他们同时强调，硬件、数据中心和选址不同，排放量能相差100到1000倍。开源模型BLOOM在法国训练，那里的电网主要靠核电。据估算，单算训练用电，它排放了约24.7吨；把设备制造等其他开销算进去，约50.5吨（卢乔尼、维吉耶和利戈扎，2023年）。最早提出这个问题的是斯特鲁贝尔等人2019年的论文，流传很广，但后来有人指出，其中最大的那个数字严重高估，不能当作典型情况引用。使用模型同样耗能，而且要用上几十亿次。生成图片的能耗远高于文本分类（卢乔尼、杰尼特和斯特鲁贝尔，2024年）。2025年，谷歌报告称，Gemini处理一条中位数的文本提问，大约耗电0.24瓦时，排放0.03克二氧化碳当量，用水0.26毫升。这比看九秒钟电视还少，但这是公司自报的数字，没有经过独立审计，也不包括训练。放眼整个行业，国际能源署估计，2024年全球数据中心用电约415太瓦时，约占全球用电量的1.5%；按基准情景，到2030年将升至约945太瓦时。在美国，劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室估计，2023年数据中心用电176太瓦时，占全国的4.4%，到2028年约为6.7%到12%。李等人估算，在微软美国数据中心训练GPT-3，可能蒸发了约70万升淡水，不过这是模型推算，不是实测。所以，公允的看法是两头都看。问一个问题，耗电很少。值得担心的是规模，以及电和水从哪里来。AI也可能帮上忙，比如天气预报和电网调度。故事里2038年桥城又便宜又干净的电，是想象出来的。

第十八页，特奥说出了造假的第二重危害。2019年，罗伯特·切斯尼和丹妮尔·西特龙把它称为“说谎者红利”。人人都知道可以造假，被真录音录下的人，就能说录音是假的。现实中已经有这样的事。2024年1月，美国新罕布什尔州的选民接到自动语音电话，里面是AI模仿的拜登总统的声音。联邦通信委员会后来对幕后的顾问罚款600万美元。第十一章讲过阿鲁普公司的案子。应对办法有几种：内容凭证（如C2PA标准）、看不见的水印、并不完美也可能被骗过的检测工具，还有法律。欧盟《人工智能法案》第50条要求，人们和AI对话时要被告知，某些AI生成的内容要加标识，自2026年8月2日起施行。第十七页浩然承诺，凡是机器做的声音都会说明，说的就是这个。最古老的防线仍然最管用：查清录音从哪里来。

最后，给每个家庭一句话。语音助手不会替你保密，名字、住址和私事，只说给信得过的人听；看看它的设置，删掉旧录音；录别人的声音、拷别人的声音之前，先问一声；再像小雨和妈妈在第十一章里那样，定一个家里人遇到急事专用的暗号。

哪些是真的

孩子的数据，法律怎么规定

在美国，《儿童在线隐私保护法》规定，在线服务收集13岁以下儿童的个人信息前，必须先征得家长同意。在欧盟，《通用数据保护条例》第8条设了一条年龄线，由各国在13到16岁之间自定。低于这个年龄，使用某些在线服务须经家长同意。联合国儿童基金会关于AI与儿童的指南，把数据保护和隐私列为核心要求。2025年9月，美国联邦贸易委员会动用研究调查权，要求七家提供AI陪伴聊天机器人的公司（Alphabet、Character.AI、Instagram、Meta、OpenAI、Snap和xAI）报告，它们如何检测对儿童和青少年的伤害，又如何处理儿童数据。

怎样少交出一点

差分隐私，是在结果里加入精确控制的随机噪声，让人没法从结果里看出任何一个人的数据（德沃克等人，2006年）。数据最小化，就是只收集确实需要的数据。现在有些助手直接在设备上运行，不上云端。这些办法都不能一劳永逸。对一个家庭来说，最可靠的保护仍是最简单的那一条，私事不要告诉机器。

最恶劣的伪造，截至2026年

2026年对欧盟《人工智能法案》的修订新增一项禁令，自2026年12月2日起施行，禁止AI系统未经本人同意生成真人的私密图像，也禁止生成儿童的性图像。

出处Carlini and colleagues (2021), Extracting training data from large language models.Nasr and colleagues (2023), Scalable extraction of training data from (production) language models.Federal Trade Commission (2023), FTC and DOJ charge Amazon with violating children's privacy law by keeping kids' Alexa voice recordings forever and undermining parents' deletion requests.Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (2023), Artificial intelligence, stop to ChatGPT by the Italian SA.Federal Trade Commission (2025), FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions.UNICEF (2021), Policy Guidance on AI for Children; UNICEF (2025), Guidance on AI and Children.Dwork, McSherry, Nissim and Smith (2006), Calibrating noise to sensitivity in private data analysis.Strubell, Ganesh and McCallum (2019), Energy and policy considerations for deep learning in NLP.Patterson and colleagues (2021), Carbon emissions and large neural network training.Luccioni, Viguier and Ligozat (2023), Estimating the carbon footprint of BLOOM, a 176B parameter language model.Luccioni, Jernite and Strubell (2024), Power hungry processing.Elsworth and colleagues (2025), Measuring the environmental impact of delivering AI at Google scale.International Energy Agency (2025), Energy and AI.Shehabi and colleagues (2024), 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report.Li, Yang, Islam and Ren (2025), Making AI less thirsty.Chesney and Citron (2019), Deep fakes, a looming challenge for privacy, democracy, and national security.Federal Communications Commission (2024), Forfeiture order on the New Hampshire robocalls.European Union (2024), Regulation (EU) 2024/1689; European Union (2026), Regulation (EU) 2026/1744.

哪些是虚构的

桥城和城里的每一个人都是虚构的，2038年的整个世界也是，包括长满花园的高楼、太阳能小船和便宜的清洁电。小灯、小柳、小柳的方言功能、那条广告、做广告的工具和小灯的资料库，都是编的。广告里那个合成的声音，它说的每句话、唱的每个字，也都是编的。方言组收集了什么，小柳存下夜里的录音再拿来学，同样是编的。小灯的回信、米拉的协议、浩然的直播、小灯的承诺、小柳新的夜间声音，还有苏黎世的实验室和它的邀请，也都是虚构的。外公的歌《湖上的月亮》和美兰的磁带属于这个故事，出自第十一章。研究测过的是模型对文字的记忆，没有测过语音程序记住一家人的歌，故事是借这首歌来说明这个道理。外公的记忆状况不取材于任何具体的人，故事也不作任何医学判断。为已故的人合成声音，是安慰还是伤害，要由每个家庭自己掂量。故事里，美兰没法被问到，是外公替她作了回答。

谁做了这本漫画

这本漫画由 Yingying Fu 创作。故事和人物由她决定，每一页由她导演，每一句话、每一幅画由她修改。文字是和 Anthropic 的人工智能 Claude 一起起草的。画面由人工智能生成，按她的要求一格一格地画，再逐张检查、修正。

When You Forget, I'll Remember你忘了，我记得