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It would be nice to build a local LLM + wikipedia tool, that uses the LLM to assemble a general answer and then search wikipedia (via full-text search or rag) for grounding facts. It could help with hallucinations of small models a lot.
One important distinction is that the strength of LLMs isn't just in storing or retrieving knowledge like Wikipedia, it’s in comprehension. LLMs will return faulty or imprecise information at times, but what they can do is understand vague or poorly formed questions and help guide a user toward an answer. They can explain complex ideas in simpler terms, adapt responses based on the user's level of understanding, and…
So meta prompt engineering?
One important distinction is that the strength of LLMs isn't just in storing or retrieving knowledge like Wikipedia, it’s in comprehension. LLMs will return faulty or imprecise information at times, but what they can do is understand vague or poorly formed questions and help guide a user toward an answer. They can explain complex ideas in simpler terms, adapt responses based on the user's level of understanding, and…
otoh, if we do in fact bring about such a reboot then maybe a full cold boot is what's actually in order ... you know, if it didn't work maybe try something different next time.
This gave me a nice idea. It would be nice to build a local LLM + wikipedia tool, that uses the LLM to assemble a general answer and then search wikipedia (via full-text search or rag) for grounding facts. It could help with hallucinations of small models a lot.
e.g. At the risk of massively oversimplifying a complex issue, LLMs are bad at maths; couldn’t we have them use the calculator?
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A trustless society can't progress/function a lot. I trust doctors who treat me, civil engineers who built my house and even in software which I pretend to be expert in I haven't seen source code of any OS and browser I use as I trust on companies or OSS devs. Most of this is based on reputation. LLMs are same, I just have to calculate level of trust as I use it.
Some trust is necessary, yes, but not complete trust. I certainly don't trust my coworkers code. I don't trust their services to return what they say they will return 100% of the time. I don't trust that someone won't introduce a bug. I assert assumptions and dive into their code when something is fishy. I also know nothing about health, but I'm going to double check what my doctors say. Maybe against a 2nd doctor, m…
Family members have had far far worse. And that’s in Norway’s healthcare system. So now I trust that they’ll mean well but verify because that’s not enough.
One important distinction is that the strength of LLMs isn't just in storing or retrieving knowledge like Wikipedia, it’s in comprehension. LLMs will return faulty or imprecise information at times, but what they can do is understand vague or poorly formed questions and help guide a user toward an answer. They can explain complex ideas in simpler terms, adapt responses based on the user's level of understanding, and…
Do you have an example of such a question that is handled by an llm differently than a wikipedia search?
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An unreliable computer treated as a god by a pre-information-age society sounds like a Star Trek episode.
Definitely sounds like a plausible and fun episode. On the other hand, real history if filled with all sorts of things being treated as a god that were much worse than "unreliable computer". For example, a lot of times it's just a human with malice. So how bad could it really get
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we did that and still do. people just don't buy encyclopedias that much nowadays
Imagine taking the whole Web, removing spam, duplicates, bad explanations It will be the free new Wikipedia+ to learn anything in the best way possible, with the best graphs, interactive widgets, etc What LLMs have for free but humans for some reason don’t In some places it is possible to use copyrighted materials to educate if not directly for profit
Gimme a few hours
> removing spam, duplicates, bad explanations
I'll need a research team and five years.
1. make the (compressed) Wikipedia searchable better as a knowledge base 2. use the LLM as a "interface" to that knowledge base
I investigated 1. back when all of (English, text-only) Wikipedia was about 2 GB. Maybe it is time to look at that toy code base again.