2 ms·
Well; many LLMs can compose a structured essay better than most undergrounds, yet most also struggle with basic addition. E.g. Gemma-3-4B: add 1 and 1 google/
by 827a 1y ago
Well; many LLMs can compose a structured essay better than most undergrounds, yet most also struggle with basic addition. E.g. Gemma-3-4B:
add 1 and 1
google/gemma-3-4b
1 + 1 = 2
add four to that
google/gemma-3-4b
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4
So, 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 8
Of course, smarter, billion dollar LLMs can do that. But, they aren't able to fetch one of 30 objects based on name, nor can they drive a car. They're often super-important components of much larger systems that are, at the very least, getting really close to being able to do these things if not able to already.
It should be worldview-changing to realize that writing a graduate-level research essay is, in some ways, easier than adding 4 to 2. Its just not easier for humans or ALUs. It turns out, intelligence is a multi-dimensional spectrum, and words like "smart" are kinda un-smart to use when describing entities who vie for a place on it.
- throwawaymaths 1y agothe llm by default (without better prompting) is vibe solving math, and if you tell a human to vibe solve it they might give similar results. tell a teenager to add two three digit numbers without a scratchpad and they will mess up in similar ways, tell an llm to show and check their work and they will do much better.
- recursive 1y ago> tell a teenager to add two three digit numbers without a scratchpad and they will mess up in similar ways More likely they will say "lol, i don't know". And this is better than a lot of LLM output in the sense that it's aware of its limits, and doesn't hallucinate.
- 827a 1y agoIt feels like I'm talking with an LLM that's losing a coherent view of its context window right now. Because here's the conversation up to this point: 1. "LLMs are smart they have intelligence that is some significant portion of the breadth of human cognition." 2. Me: "ALUs are also smart, maybe that's not a good word to use." 3. "But LLMs can write essays." 4. Me: "But they can't do basic math, so clearly there's different definitions of the word 'smart'" 5. "Yeah that's because they're vibe-solving math. Teenagers also operate on vibes." What are you even talking about?? Its like you're an AI programmed to instantly attack any suggestion that LLMs have limitations.
- throwawaymaths 1y agodude, llm context windows keep the latest material, not the oldest. i only respond to the most interesting shit. most ppl jump in with something interesting and then gish gallop into nonsense because they at some point were taught that verbosity is good