(the referenced HN thread starts at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45060519)
An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
simonwillison.net
An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
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Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#2[deleted]
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#3Yes and working out how to disentangle the information storage mechanisms from say language processing is a massive area of interest. Only problem with Attention Transformers imo is that they're a bit too good :p
Imagine a slightly lossy compression algorithm which can store 10x, 100x the current best lossless and be able to maintain 99.999% fidelity when recalling that information. Probably, very probably a pipe dream. But why do large on device models seem to be able to remember adjust everything from Wikipedia and store that in smaller format than a direct archive of the source Material. (Look at the current best from diffusion models as well)
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#4agent reframing:
llm is a pretty good librarian who has read a ton of books (and doesn't have perfect memory)
even more useful when allowed to think-aloud
even more useful when allowed to write stuff down and check in library db
even more useful when allowed to go browse and pick up some books
even more useful when given a budget for travel and access to other archives
even more useful when …
brrrrt
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#5Chain of thought seems to be an extraction algorithm for information buried deeper.
The models hold more information than they can immediately extract, but CoT can find a key to look it up or synthesise by applying some learned generalisations.
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#6It's also important to say what it isn't. LLM detractors, for lack of a better word, expect an oracle and then when they find out it's just a lossily compressed blob of human knowledge with natural language as a query interface they say the tool is useless.
I've got my opinion on whether that's useful or not and it's quite a bit more nuanced. You don't zoom-enhance JPEGs for a reason either.
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#7I disagree with that analogy, because LLMs have a lot of connections between text fragments, which an encyclopedia doesn't have to such a deep degree. An encyclopedia also can't interpret and output relevant knowledge from an input prompt.
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#8The first thing I tell the juniors under my supervision: any LLM is not a fact machine, even though sometimes it pretends to be. Double check everything!
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#9Yes, LLM is a lossy encyclopedia with a human-language answering interface. This has some benefits, mostly in terms of convenience. You don't have to browse or read through so many pages of a real encyclopedia to get a quick answer.
However, there is also a clear downside. Currently, LLM is unable to judge if your question is formulated incorrectly or if your question opens up more questions that should be answered first. It always jumps to answering something. A real human would assess the questioner first and usually ask for more details before answering. I feel this is the predominant reason why LLM answers feel so dumb at times. It never asks for clarification.
Re: An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia
#10I disagree with that analogy, because LLMs have a lot of connections between text fragments, which an encyclopedia doesn't have to such a deep degree. An encyclopedia also can't interpret and output relevant knowledge from an input prompt.
It helps a lot to set expectations though, especially when thinking of an encyclopedia not as a row of dusty old books but as an 'archive of human knowledge'.
A slightly more precise analogy is probably 'a lossily compressed snapshot of the web'. Or maybe the Librarian from Snow Crash - but at least that one knew when it didn't know ;)