> there is no understanding in the GPT-2 system, but it's able to generate increasingly plausible text Under some definition of "understanding". GPT understand

> there is no understanding in the GPT-2 system, but it's able to generate increasingly plausible text Under some definition of "understanding". GPT understands how to link words and concepts in a broadly correct manner. As long as the training data is valid, it's very plausible that it could connect some concepts that it genuinely and correctly understands are compatible, but doing so in a way which humans had not considered. It can't do research or verify truth, but I've seen several examples of it coming up with an idea that as far as I can tell had never been explored, but made perfect sense. It understood that those concepts fit together because it saw a chain connecting them through god-knows how many input texts, yet a human wouldn't have ever thought of it. That's still valuable. As to how far that understanding can be developed... I'm not sure. It's hard to believe that algorithmically generated text would ever be able to somehow ensure that it produces true text, but then again ten years ago I would have scoffed at the idea of it getting as far as it already has.