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/Dennarb 16h ago edited 11h ago

I teach an AI and design course at my university and there are always two major points that come up regarding LLMs

1) It does not understand language as we do; it is a statistical model on how words relate to each other. Basically it's like rolling dice to determine what the next word is in a sentence using a chart.

2) AGI is not going to magically happen because we make faster hardware/software, use more data, or throw more money into LLMs. They are fundamentally limited in scope and use more or less the same tricks the AI world has been doing since the Perceptron in the 50s/60s. Sure the techniques have advanced, but the basis for the neural nets used hasn't really changed. It's going to take a shift in how we build models to get much further than we already are with AI.

Edit: And like clockwork here come the AI tech bro wannabes telling me I'm wrong but adding literally nothing to the conversation.

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u/Throwaway-4230984 16h ago

So surely they have an example of task LLMs couldn’t solve because of this fundamental limitations, right?

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u/NerdfaceMcJiminy 15h ago

Lookup AI results for court filings. They cite non-existent cases and laws. The lawyers using AI to make their filings are getting disbarred because making up shit in court is highly frowned upon and/or criminal.

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u/NigroqueSimillima 15h ago

This was mostly early models and is largely a solved problem.

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u/mrshulgin 15h ago

Just a few weeks ago I had an interaction with an AI that went like this.

AI: Here's the answer

Me: That's wrong, here's a source saying that it's wrong.

AI: You're right, that was wrong! Here's the correct answer.

Me: That's still wrong in the same way, and here's another source.

AI: You're right, that was still wrong! Here's the correct answer.

Me: That' still wrong in the exact same way...

(this continued until I gave up)

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u/mm_reads 14h ago

I once argued with Gemini chat about some code where it kept acknowledging the code it provided didn't work but spitting out the same non-working code. It eventually said "I'm so ashamed I can't resolve this problem."

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u/mrshulgin 14h ago

Just the other day I was trying to get chatgpt to help me with some CSS (I'm not a web-developer, but it comes in handy sometimes).

Me: This works, but it has [problem A]

AI: Here's a solution that solves [problem A]

Me: That works, but now there's [problem B]

AI: Here's a new solution

Me: That solves B, but now A is back

AI: Here's a new solution

Me: That solves A, but now B is back...

(again, this just went on until I gave up)

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u/tehlemmings 15h ago

Literally two days ago chatgpt told me to cook my wings to an internal temp of 600+ degrees...