Ethan Mollick, Author and Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Behind The Tech with Kevin Scott
00:00
Navigating the Crisis Between Understanding and Artificial Intelligence
The crisis between optimists and pessimists revolves around the fundamental mechanism of transformer-based models, where individuals question how these models can perform tasks they thought they were good at. This crisis leads some to ponder if they are merely imitating patterns like a 'stochastic parrot.' It evokes a sense of unease akin to discovering that dolphins can talk about you behind your back. While the mechanism is reconstructable, questions remain about the model's superiority, how it compares to the human brain, and the true nature of its functioning. The notion of a statistical pattern to language and thought raises complexities and uncertainties, emphasizing that many questions lack definitive answers.
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