I have many conversations with people about Large Language Models like ChatGPT and Copilot. The idea that “it makes convincing sentences, but it doesn’t know what it’s talking about” is a difficult concept to convey or wrap your head around. Because the sentences are so convincing.

Any good examples on how to explain this in simple terms?

Edit:some good answers already! I find especially that the emotional barrier is difficult to break. If an AI says something malicious, our brain immediatly jumps to “it has intent”. How can we explain this away?

  • Hucklebee@lemmy.worldOP
    1·
    6 months ago

    Thanks for your thorough answer.

    I’ll see if I can find that article/paper about the chess moves. That sounds interesting!

    Could it be that we ascribe an LLM with conceptual knowledge while in fact it is by chance? We as humans are masters at seeing patterns that aren’t there. But then again, like another commenter said, maybe the question is more about conscience itself, and what that actually means. What it means to “understand” something.