Lorcan Dempsey Writes: “Understanding the Discussion About AI Benefits From Hands-On Experience of Tools and Services” (We Agree!)

Ed. Note: Another “must read”. Using AI tools/resources is essential and the best way to understand how they work and who they work (or don’t work) for. Kudos Lorcan!

From Lorcan Dempsey’s Post, “AI … and the Rhinoceros in the Room Redux”:

It is helpful to try out services in areas where you have personal knowledge or expertise, so as to be able to weigh and assess. For example, when looking at a service I sometimes ask questions about Irish diaspora populations in the UK and the US, and differences in perceptions, influence, and so on. It is interesting to see variability across services, and again how prompting can guide responses. One can see an occasional leaning into stereotypes but also the ability to note the existence of stereotypes. Of course, this is very impressionistic – it will be interesting to see more research work on the cultural and social attitudes embedded in LLMs.

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Of course, experience alone cannot make you an expert in how LLMs work, although conversely knowing how they work certainly improves your interaction. Nor will experience alone reveal the ways in which dominant historical perspectives or attitudes influence the results, or which results may be fabricated. (An LLM is a Large Language Model, which is what powers ChatGPT and other services.

Read the Complete Post (about 1100 words)

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