Talking About Large Language Models

Authors: Murray Shanahan

License: CC BY 4.0

Results of the summarizing process for the arXiv paper: 2212.03551v5

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In recent years, the rapid progress in artificial intelligence has led to an intersection of technology and philosophy, with large language models (LLMs) at the center of this intersection. LLMs such as Bert and GPT-2 have transformed the field of AI by using transformer architectures comprising hundreds of billions of parameters and trained on massive amounts of textual data. The effectiveness of these models is surprising in three inter-related ways: their performance scales with the size of the training set, there are qualitative leaps in capability as the models scale, and a great many tasks that demand intelligence in humans can be reduced to next token prediction with a sufficiently performant model. However, as LLMs become more adept at mimicking human language, we become more vulnerable to anthropomorphism - seeing these systems as more human-like than they really are. This trend is amplified by our tendency to use philosophically loaded terms such as "knows," "believes," and "thinks" when describing these systems. To mitigate this trend, Murray Shanahan advocates for repeatedly stepping back to remind ourselves how LLMs actually work and how they form part of larger systems. The hope is that increased scientific precision will encourage more philosophical nuance in discussions around artificial intelligence both within the field and in public discourse. While LLMs have shown remarkable capabilities, it's important not to overestimate their abilities or see them as fully autonomous entities capable of independent thought. Instead, we should view them as tools designed for specific purposes within larger systems that require careful consideration and ethical oversight. Overall, this paper highlights the need for greater awareness around our use of language when discussing AI technologies like LLMs. By avoiding anthropomorphism and maintaining scientific precision in our discussions, we can foster a more nuanced understanding of these powerful tools while also ensuring responsible development and deployment practices going forward.
AI-generated keywords: Artificial Intelligence Language Models LLMs Anthropomorphism Nuance

AI-generated Key Points

  • Large language models (LLMs) such as Bert and GPT-2 have transformed the field of AI
  • LLMs use transformer architectures comprising hundreds of billions of parameters and trained on massive amounts of textual data
  • The effectiveness of LLMs is surprising in three inter-related ways: their performance scales with the size of the training set, there are qualitative leaps in capability as the models scale, and a great many tasks that demand intelligence in humans can be reduced to next token prediction with a sufficiently performant model
  • As LLMs become more adept at mimicking human language, we become more vulnerable to anthropomorphism - seeing these systems as more human-like than they really are
  • To mitigate this trend, Murray Shanahan advocates for repeatedly stepping back to remind ourselves how LLMs actually work and how they form part of larger systems
  • It's important not to overestimate the abilities of LLMs or see them as fully autonomous entities capable of independent thought. Instead, we should view them as tools designed for specific purposes within larger systems that require careful consideration and ethical oversight.
  • The paper highlights the need for greater awareness around our use of language when discussing AI technologies like LLMs. By avoiding anthropomorphism and maintaining scientific precision in our discussions, we can foster a more nuanced understanding of these powerful tools while also ensuring responsible development and deployment practices going forward.
Also access our AI generated: Comprehensive summary, Lay summary, Blog-like article; or ask questions about this paper to our AI assistant.

Abstract: Thanks to rapid progress in artificial intelligence, we have entered an era when technology and philosophy intersect in interesting ways. Sitting squarely at the centre of this intersection are large language models (LLMs). The more adept LLMs become at mimicking human language, the more vulnerable we become to anthropomorphism, to seeing the systems in which they are embedded as more human-like than they really are. This trend is amplified by the natural tendency to use philosophically loaded terms, such as "knows", "believes", and "thinks", when describing these systems. To mitigate this trend, this paper advocates the practice of repeatedly stepping back to remind ourselves of how LLMs, and the systems of which they form a part, actually work. The hope is that increased scientific precision will encourage more philosophical nuance in the discourse around artificial intelligence, both within the field and in the public sphere.

Submitted to arXiv on 07 Dec. 2022

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