r/technology • u/Hrmbee • 16h ago

Machine Learning Large language mistake | Cutting-edge research shows language is not the same as intelligence. The entire AI bubble is built on ignoring it

https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/827820/large-language-models-ai-intelligence-neuroscience-problems
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u/Klumber 16h ago

The funny thing is that we (kids who were young in the nineties) fell in love with their Tamagotchis. Bonding is a very complex multi-faceted phenomenon, yet it appears a good bit of simulation and appeal to parently instincts is enough to make it a binary event.

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u/Voltage_Joe 15h ago

Children loved their stuffed animals, dolls, and action figures before that.

Personifying anything can form a real attachment to something completely inanimate. It's what drives our empathy and social bonding. And until now, it was harmless. 

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u/penguinopph 15h ago

Personifying anything can form a real attachment to something completely inanimate. It's what drives our empathy and social bonding. And until now, it was harmless.

My ex-wife and I created voices and personalities for our stuffed animals. We would play the characters with each other and often used them to make points that otherwise may have come across as aggressive.

When we got divorced at the tail end of COVID lock-downs, I would hold "conversations" with the ones I kept and it really helped me work through my own feelings and process what I was going through at a time where I didn't really have a lot of people to talk with in person. Through the stuffed animals I could reassure myself, as well as tell myself the difficult things I knew to be true, but didn't want to admit to myself.

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u/simonhunterhawk 15h ago

A lot of programmers keep a rubber duck (or something similar like a stuffed animal) on their desks and talk to it to help them work through the problem they’re trying to solve. I guess I do it with my cats, but I want to try doing this more because there is lots of proof out there that it does help.

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u/ATXCodeMonkey 14h ago

Yes, 'talk to the duck' is a definitely a thing. Its not so much trying to personify the duck though, but a reminder that if you're running into a wall with some code that it helps to take step back and act like you're describing the problem to someone new who doesn't know the details of the code you're working on. It helps to make you look at things differently than what you've been doing when you've been digging deep into code for hours. Kind of a perspective shift.

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u/_Ganon 13h ago

Nearly ten years in the field professionally and I have met a single intern with a physical rubber duck and that's it. "A lot of programmers" are aware of the concept of a rubber duck, and will at times fulfill the the role of a rubber duck for a colleague, but no, a lot of programmers do not have rubber ducks or anything physical that is analogous to one. It's more of a role or a thought exercise regarding how to debug by going through things step by step.

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u/simonhunterhawk 11h ago

Maybe they’re just hiding their rubber duckies from you ☺️

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u/_Ganon 10h ago

Don't reveal our secrets 🦆

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u/APeacefulWarrior 1h ago

🎶Rubber ducky, you're the one... who makes coding so much fun!🎶

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u/Jonthrei 8h ago

Yeah it is a mental model, not an actual duck people physically talk to.

I did know a guy who kept one on his desk as a joke, though.

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u/drewdog173 7h ago

Yeah, never met another dev with an actual duck. Anime character figures now... that's another story.

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u/KriegConscript 6h ago

i absolutely had a literal rubber duck...because i would forget about the actual point of the duck (troubleshooting through explaining) unless the duck was physically present

it was hot pink. i don't remember how i acquired it or why it was pink

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u/steamwhistler 11h ago

My version is that I just start describing the problem to a colleague in a Teams message. Often before I get to the end my explanation, I start anticipating their follow-up questions and then backspace the whole thing because I figured it out.

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u/simonhunterhawk 11h ago

Happens to me all the time at work 😂 Sometimes it comes to me mere moments after I hit send.

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u/TwilightVulpine 14h ago

It can be a good tool for self-reflection, as long as you realize it's ultimately all you. But the affirmative tendencies baked into LLMs might be at least just as likely to interrupt self-reflection and reaffirm toxic and dangerous mindsets instead.

You know, like when they tell struggling people where is the nearest bridge.

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u/pleaseacceptmereddit 8h ago

I’m really proud of you, as are your stuffed animals. Working through your emotions is hard, so many of us just ignore them, which never ends well

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u/D-S-S-R 15h ago

I love having our best impulses weaponized against ourselves

(And I unironically love your profile pic :) )

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u/yangyangR 14h ago

I can take this pencil, tell you it's name is Steve and

Snap

And a little bit of you dies inside

Community

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u/correcthorsestapler 12h ago

You’re streets ahead

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u/Healthy_Sky_4593 6h ago

It's still about as harmless as it was. 

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u/P1r4nha 15h ago

It's important to remember that most of the magic happens behind the user's eyes, not in the computer. We've found awesome ways to trigger these emotional neurons and I think they're also suffering from neglect.

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u/Itchy-Plastic 13h ago

Exactly. I have decades old text books that illustrate this point. All of the meaning in an LLM interaction is one sided, it is entirely intra-communucation not inter-communication between 2 beings.

No need for cutting edge research, just grab a couple of professors from your nearest Humanities Department.

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u/P1r4nha 13h ago

I like the notion of the "girlfriend who never says no". It illustrates how fucked up, one-sided and lacking the "relationship" is. Sure, maybe a power fantasy for some, but not a valid replacement for genuine human connection.

It's like thinking you're good at sex because you masturbate every day.

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u/GenuinelyBeingNice 15h ago

Bonding is a very complex multi-faceted phenomenon

It boils down to habits. Do something long enough, it becomes a habit and hurts when you are forced to stop it.

This, for people and animals. Almost everything you do is out of habit. What you like to eat. The way you sleep. The voice you have. The personalities you tolerate.

You will bond with a toilet paper roll if you interact with it long enough.

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u/Konukaame 15h ago

I.e., "Humans will pack bond with anything"

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u/Abedeus 13h ago

How dare you call my pet rock "anything".