(2023)
Yean, a lot has happened in two years
Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
11–20 of 389 posts
Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#12[Edit to remove: It was not clear that this was someone else's intro re-posted on Chomsky's site]
Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#13Quite a nice overview. For almost any specific measure, you can find something that is better than human at that point. And now LLMs architecture have made possible for computers to produce complete and internally consistent paragraphs of text, by rehashing all the digital data that can be found on the internet.
But what we're good as using all of our capabilities to transform the world around us according to an internal model that is partially shared between individuals. And we have complete control over that internal model, diverging from reality and converging towards it on whims.
So we can't produce and manipulate text faster, but rarely the end game is to produce and manipulate text. Mostly it's about sharing ideas and facts (aka internal models) and the control is ultimately what matters. It can help us, just like a calculator can help us solve an equation.
EDIT
After learning to draw, I have that internal model that I switch to whenever I want to sketch something. It's like a special mode of observation, where you no longer simply see, but pickup a lot of extra details according to all the drawing rules you internalized. There's not a lot, they're just intrinsically connected with each other. The difficult part is hand-eye coordination and analyzing the divergences between what you see and the internal model.
I think that's why a lot of artists are disgusted with AI generators. There's no internal models. Trying to extract one from a generated picture is a futile exercice. Same with generated texts. Alterations from the common understanding follows no patterns.
Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#14I recently saw a new LLM that was fooled by "20 pounds of bricks vs 20 feathers". These are not reasoning machines.
Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#15Chomsky is always saying that LLMs and such can only imitate, not understand language. But I wonder if there is a degree of sophistication at which he would concede these machines exceed "imitation". If his point is that LLMs arrive at language in a way different than humans... great. But I'm not sure how he can argue that some kind of extremely sophisticated understanding of natural language is not embedded in these…
From what I've read/watched of Chomsky he's holding out for something that truly cannot be distinguished from human no matter how hard you tried.
Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#16He should just surrender and give chatgpt whatever land it wants.
Manufactured intelligence to modulate a world of manufactured consent! I agree with the rest of these comments though, listening to Chomsky wax about the topic-du-jour is a bit like trying to take lecture notes from the Swedish Chef.
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Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#17[Edit to remove: It was not clear that this was someone else's intro re-posted on Chomsky's site]
This is an interview published in Common Dreams, rehosted at Chomsky's site. Those are the interviewer's words, not Chomsky's.
Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#18He should just surrender and give chatgpt whatever land it wants.
Manufactured intelligence to modulate a world of manufactured consent! I agree with the rest of these comments though, listening to Chomsky wax about the topic-du-jour is a bit like trying to take lecture notes from the Swedish Chef.
>"bit like trying to take lecture notes from the Swedish Chef."
I'll be liberally borrowing, and using that simile! It's hilarious. Bork, bork, bork!
The best thing is you can be right, and the other side can't take offense. It's the Muppets after all. It's brilliant!
Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#19Re: Chomsky on what ChatGPT is good for (2023)
#20He should just surrender and give chatgpt whatever land it wants.
Manufactured intelligence to modulate a world of manufactured consent! I agree with the rest of these comments though, listening to Chomsky wax about the topic-du-jour is a bit like trying to take lecture notes from the Swedish Chef.
Dude is 96, so he definitely has a different perspective than most, for better or worse.