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> Another great failing of LLM software is that the user being spoken to is generic. The answers are not modeled for you, they're the same models for everyone.

> Another great failing of LLM software is that the user being spoken to is generic. The answers are not modeled for you, they're the same models for everyone. But a human teacher does their job by being exactly the opposite of this -- someone who is finely tuned to the needs and understandings of their audience. A good journalist or writer does the same. ChatGPT can do this if you just ask. E.g., explain as if I'm 5 and it will use simple words and phrases. Explain like I'm an expert and it will use technical jargon and expect a deeper shared knowledge with which it can draw from. You shouldn't write so authoritatively when clearly you haven't explored its capabilities.

rakejake 4y ago
This is true but does not refute OP's point. There is an entire subreddit for ELI5 that is probably part of its training data. So if you ask for ELI5, that pattern IS part of the training corpus.
- weird-eye-issue 4y ago
  It is more complex than that, it isn't just scraping /r/ELI5 lol Ask it a question about JavaScript and tell it to respond as a 1920s gangster and it will happily oblige and do a great job. And just to make sure we are on the same page, JavaScript was not available in the 20s
  - dtagames 4y ago
    It is just scraping and reorganizing words while including words from your prompt in the equation. I already mentioned that the style (gangster) and vocabulary (JavaScript) can come from different scanned documents. Cool? Yes. Is it learning, or understanding? No.
    - weird-eye-issue 4y ago
      If it's not learning then how can you tell it abstractly why it's code is wrong then have it fix it? Without telling it specifically "change this to this"
      - dragonwriter 4y ago
        Within the limits of the prompt length that it can handle, it includes the prior history of the conversation as part of the prompt. (Arguably, you could say it is “learning” but the learning is limited to the same conversation, with a very sharply limited depth.)
dtagames 4y ago
Alas, I have. You can ask the tool to parrot styles that it has already seen, but it cannot tailor the output to fill-in the gaps nor persuade someone (or a group) who is at a particular level of understanding. In human writing, these are the most common use cases. The reason that I write in this manner is that I'd like to scrub out the notion that computers or software are magical. It isn't helpful to our line of business -- unless you're pitching VC. Most people don't know how stupidly simple computers really are, and unfortunately that includes many developers and tech folks.
- stevenhuang 4y ago
  But it literally can. I just tried. Go make up a group with X knowledge and tell chatgpt to explain something in terms only X group can understand. It will do it. Tell it to go in-depth and it will do it. There are limitations to the model but making wrong statements about its capabilities does not help your point. This is just one recent example. You may object that it's too common a question, but I've made many others and it responds competently: > Please explain group theory in terms that children in elementary with rudimentary mathematics knowledge can understand. Go in-depth in your explanations Sure, I'd be happy to explain group theory to children with elementary-level math knowledge. Group theory is a branch of mathematics that studies the properties of groups, which are sets of objects that can be combined together in certain ways. One of the key ideas in group theory is that groups have a set of rules, called group axioms, that dictate how the objects in the group can be combined. For example, one group axiom is that when you combine two objects in the group, the result must also be an object in the group. This means that if you have a group of numbers, and you add two numbers together, the result must also be a number in the group. Another important idea in group theory is the concept of symmetry. Symmetry is when an object looks the same, no matter how you rotate it or flip it. For example, a square has symmetry because it looks the same whether you turn it 45 degrees to the left or right, or flip it over. Groups can have symmetry too, and this can help us understand the patterns and regularities in the way that the objects in the group behave. To understand group theory, it's helpful to think about examples of groups. One common example is the group of whole numbers, which are the numbers we use to count things. In this group, you can add two numbers together (like 3 + 5), and the result will be a whole number. You can also multiply two whole numbers together (like 3 x 5), and the result will be a whole number. This group has a symmetry property, because if you multiply two numbers together, the result will be the same no matter which order you put the numbers in (for example, 3 x 5 is the same as 5 x 3). Another example of a group is the set of all possible moves in a game of chess. In chess, you can move pieces like the rook, the knight, and the queen in different ways on the board. These different moves form a group, because you can combine two moves (like moving the rook to one square and then moving the knight to another square) and the result will be a legal move in the game. Group theory is a fascinating and important area of math, and it has applications in many different fields, from physics and chemistry to computer science and cryptography. While it can be challenging to understand, with a little bit of practice and perseverance, even young students can learn the basics of group theory and appreciate its beauty and power.

rakejake 4y ago

This is true but does not refute OP's point. There is an entire subreddit for ELI5 that is probably part of its training data. So if you ask for ELI5, that pattern IS part of the training corpus.

weird-eye-issue 4y ago
It is more complex than that, it isn't just scraping /r/ELI5 lol Ask it a question about JavaScript and tell it to respond as a 1920s gangster and it will happily oblige and do a great job. And just to make sure we are on the same page, JavaScript was not available in the 20s
- dtagames 4y ago
  It is just scraping and reorganizing words while including words from your prompt in the equation. I already mentioned that the style (gangster) and vocabulary (JavaScript) can come from different scanned documents. Cool? Yes. Is it learning, or understanding? No.
  - weird-eye-issue 4y ago
    If it's not learning then how can you tell it abstractly why it's code is wrong then have it fix it? Without telling it specifically "change this to this"
    - dragonwriter 4y ago
      Within the limits of the prompt length that it can handle, it includes the prior history of the conversation as part of the prompt. (Arguably, you could say it is “learning” but the learning is limited to the same conversation, with a very sharply limited depth.)

dtagames 4y ago

Alas, I have. You can ask the tool to parrot styles that it has already seen, but it cannot tailor the output to fill-in the gaps nor persuade someone (or a group) who is at a particular level of understanding. In human writing, these are the most common use cases. The reason that I write in this manner is that I'd like to scrub out the notion that computers or software are magical. It isn't helpful to our line of business -- unless you're pitching VC. Most people don't know how stupidly simple computers really are, and unfortunately that includes many developers and tech folks.

stevenhuang 4y ago
But it literally can. I just tried. Go make up a group with X knowledge and tell chatgpt to explain something in terms only X group can understand. It will do it. Tell it to go in-depth and it will do it. There are limitations to the model but making wrong statements about its capabilities does not help your point. This is just one recent example. You may object that it's too common a question, but I've made many others and it responds competently: > Please explain group theory in terms that children in elementary with rudimentary mathematics knowledge can understand. Go in-depth in your explanations Sure, I'd be happy to explain group theory to children with elementary-level math knowledge. Group theory is a branch of mathematics that studies the properties of groups, which are sets of objects that can be combined together in certain ways. One of the key ideas in group theory is that groups have a set of rules, called group axioms, that dictate how the objects in the group can be combined. For example, one group axiom is that when you combine two objects in the group, the result must also be an object in the group. This means that if you have a group of numbers, and you add two numbers together, the result must also be a number in the group. Another important idea in group theory is the concept of symmetry. Symmetry is when an object looks the same, no matter how you rotate it or flip it. For example, a square has symmetry because it looks the same whether you turn it 45 degrees to the left or right, or flip it over. Groups can have symmetry too, and this can help us understand the patterns and regularities in the way that the objects in the group behave. To understand group theory, it's helpful to think about examples of groups. One common example is the group of whole numbers, which are the numbers we use to count things. In this group, you can add two numbers together (like 3 + 5), and the result will be a whole number. You can also multiply two whole numbers together (like 3 x 5), and the result will be a whole number. This group has a symmetry property, because if you multiply two numbers together, the result will be the same no matter which order you put the numbers in (for example, 3 x 5 is the same as 5 x 3). Another example of a group is the set of all possible moves in a game of chess. In chess, you can move pieces like the rook, the knight, and the queen in different ways on the board. These different moves form a group, because you can combine two moves (like moving the rook to one square and then moving the knight to another square) and the result will be a legal move in the game. Group theory is a fascinating and important area of math, and it has applications in many different fields, from physics and chemistry to computer science and cryptography. While it can be challenging to understand, with a little bit of practice and perseverance, even young students can learn the basics of group theory and appreciate its beauty and power.