A UNIT OF account is a useful thing. Even before money was common, people tried to come up with standardised(标准化的) ways of accounting for things. In “The Iliad(荷马史诗《伊利亚特》)” the value of armour fashioned(制作成的) from bronze or gold was expressed as a number of oxen (nine for bronze, 100 for gold). Fur pelts(毛皮), giant stones and piles of salt have all been used as measuring standards.
记账单位是个好东西。早在货币普及之前，人们就试图找到标准化的方式来计量物品。在《伊利亚特》里，青铜或黄金打造的铠甲，价值是用牛的头数来表示的（青铜甲值九头牛，黄金甲值一百头）。毛皮、巨石、成堆的盐，都曾被当作计量标准。
The universe of artificial intelligence is governed by its own unit: the token(词元，AI 处理文本的基本单位). These are snippets(片段) of text, typically four characters, that an AI model reads or responds with. The trouble with tokens, however, is that they do not work quite as neatly as cows or pelts did.(但 token 的麻烦在于，它不像牛或毛皮那样规整好用。) For one thing(首先，一则), it is unclear in advance just how many a given task might consume. Model-makers also charge dramatically different prices: a popular model offered by DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, is about one-fourtieth the price per token of a cutting-edge(最前沿的) one produced by Anthropic, a top American lab.
人工智能的世界由它自己的单位主宰：token。token 是文本片段，通常四个字符，AI 模型读取或输出时以它为单位。但 token 的麻烦在于，它不像牛或毛皮那样规整好用。首先，一项任务究竟会消耗多少 token，事先并不清楚。其次，各家模型厂商的定价天差地别：中国初创公司 DeepSeek 的一款热门模型，每 token 价格大约只有美国顶尖实验室 Anthropic 一款前沿模型的四十分之一。
For firms using ai, this is a recipe for(……的祸根，注定导致) frustration. A simple task, such as asking amodel to process invoices, could rack up(累积，积攒) a huge bill. To insure against(为防……而采取措施) this, some businesses cap(设上限，封顶) how many tokens employees can consume. But that may hinder productivity. This muddle(混乱，一团糟) has birthed(催生，孕育出) a new kind of business: the model marketplace.
对使用 AI 的企业来说，这注定令人头疼。一项简单的任务，比如让模型处理发票，就可能累积出巨额账单。为防患于未然，一些企业给员工能消耗的 token 数量设了上限。但这可能拖累生产力。这一团乱麻催生了一门新生意：模型交易平台。