4 ms·
"Hallucinate" is the wrong word when applied to LLMs. Why? Because in common usage that means you are under the influence of some kind of external substance th
by galaxyLogic 3y ago
"Hallucinate" is the wrong word when applied to LLMs. Why? Because in common usage that means you are under the influence of some kind of external substance that has entered your blood-stream, or maybe you are under hypnosis, or shamanistic chanting. That is not the case when somebody says "LLM is hallucinating, again!",
It is also sensationalist, implying we don't really know what's going on, why is this LLM hallucinating?
It even sounds like an excuse: Hey my LLM did not come out with reasonable answer, but that is only because it was hallucinating, just like humans sometimes do, so it is even more human-like than we thought. See. Or may it was drunk! That explains it.
No, it's just that LLMs are sometimes on the topic, sometimes not. When somebody says they are "hallucinating" it does not mean they are working in some kind of extra-ordinary mode of operation. They are working just as usual.
What explains what some people (want to) call LLM "hallucinating" is that LLMs sometimes make sense, sometimes they don't.
- Nevermark 3y agoI couldn't agree more. Words matter and this is a complete mismatch between concepts. > HALLUCINATION: a sensory perception (such as a visual image or a sound) that occurs in the absence of an actual external stimulus and usually arises from neurological disturbance [...] [0] When we let a model run free, without input, or with random input, whatever the model imagined it was experiencing (i.e. its internal representation) would be an hallucination. > CONFABULATION: to fill in gaps in memory by fabrication This is exactly the right concept (and therefore word) for what is happening. [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hallucination https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hallucination [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confabulation https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confabulation
- galaxyLogic 3y agoGood point. "Hallucination" is about incorrectly perceived input, not incorrect output. When people hallucinate they don't usually react to it verbally at all, they just observe it. Not the case with LLMs. They just keep on saying something, because they are designed to produce answers.