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Can gzip be a language model?

414 points · 165 comments · networked

  1. tromp · · focus · HN ↗
    I'm more interested in the converse question: how well does an LLM perform as a compressor, compared to gzip (ignoring its insanely lower speed)?
    1. alienbaby · · focus · HN ↗
      can they be considered to have compressed the entirety of their training data into their weights?
      1. nomel · · focus · HN ↗
        If you consider them lossy compression, then yes.

        The goal would be to find the minimum model that, with a fixed seed, would exactly reproduce your text.

        1. anothereng · · focus · HN ↗
          So I could hide information in a model basically
          1. nomel · · focus · HN ↗
            I think this would be the exact opposite. This model would be optimized to only output your information.
            1. anothereng · · focus · HN ↗
              thats what I meant. For a given input give me the output I want without anyone knowing why that is there
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