Re:Modern language models refute Chomsky’s approach to language
by AbrahamParangi on Tuesday June 13, 2023 @02:57PM
(#36315105)
In order to believe this, you'd need to be able to imagine a specific test of something that an LLM could not do under any circumstances. Previously, that test could have been something like "compose a novel sonnet on a topic". Today, it is much less clear that such a test (that won't be rapidly beaten) even exists.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Modern language models refute Chomsky’s approach to language
by username332211 on Tuesday June 13, 2023 @03:19PM
(#36315485)
You could use a Markov chain to generate poetry with rhyme and meter[1]. Granted, it wouldn't be a very good one, but that just makes an LLM a refinement to older probabilistic methods.
As for something LLMs are unlikely to do under any circumstances, there's already a fairly obvious example. They can't keep a secret, hence prompt injections.
Re:Modern language models refute Chomsky’s approach to language
by AbrahamParangi on Tuesday June 13, 2023 @05:10PM
(#36317398)
Do you really believe that an LLM that can keep a secret cannot be made? I suspect that we could do this trivially and the "LLMs can't keep a secret" is a specific product of finetuning for helpfulness.