ShopTalk 583: Language Models, AI, and Digital Gardens with Maggie Appleton
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Sep 18, 2023 
Maggie Appleton discusses working with language models, vetting AI responses, Soggoth meme, using Discord as UI, boss wanting AI, and calling her blog a digital garden. Topics include language models for data extraction, generative image models in illustration, efficiency, and environmental impact, academic paper sourcing, and digital gardens for content evolution.
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Malcolm Gladwell and Elicit
- Dave jokingly asks if Elicit can help him become the next Malcolm Gladwell by analyzing sociology papers.
- Maggie suggests it could help gather literature, but questions Gladwell's rigor.
AI Insights vs. Analytics
- Dave questions whether AI can deliver true insights from data, unlike Google Analytics, which often lacks depth.
- Maggie believes AI can provide specific answers, but hallucinations remain a challenge, requiring techniques to control them.
Shoggoth: The AI Mascot
- Dave introduces the Shoggoth meme, a creepy, Lovecraftian creature, as a mascot for language models.
- This represents the vast, potentially dangerous knowledge base of these models, trained on the entire internet.