Thread

1. Izmaki · 1790508818 · focus · HN ↗

   "As a Language Model..." is one of the beginnings of a sentence I hate the most from LLMs and is the reason why I support free (as in "Liberty"), local models. I'm well aware that it is not a doctor and cannot replace a real doctor with multiple years of experience, I don't need to waste braincell activity on reading that it "as a Language Model" cannot give a precise diagnosis and that I should ask a real doctor - all I want to know is if I what I experience justifies either A) ER, B) 3-4 weeks scheduled doctors appointment or C) two paracetamol and a nap.

   I don't want "jailbroken" LLMs to commit crime. I want them to avoid having this vendor-specific "bloatware" all over the product I'm using.

   1. samayashar · 1790511146 · focus · HN ↗

      This statement should be restricted to answers for provocative questions. If an LLM is being asked a question that goes against the guidelines, then "As a Language Model..." is a valid starting point. Rest, obviously we're aware that a software doesn't have the judgement that a human has.

      1. Izmaki · 1790511747 · focus · HN ↗

         I disagree. "As a Language Model" is not a valid starting point even for prompts that would go against "the guidelines" because "A Language Model" only knows what it has been trained to know, so what exactly "A Language Model" is entirely depends on the training that was performed.

         What "A Language Model" is differs from model to model. It's stating that it "being the thing known as 'Language Model'" is unable to carry out the request from the user, which is wrong. It's not because "it is a Language Model". A more accurate starting point could have been "The training data and restrictions applied to me...".

         "As a Language Model I cannot tell you how to synthesize m*th" ("math" obviously)... yes you can, you're just trained not to, and that's OK! Just don't tell me it's because you're a Language Model.

      2. kevin_thibedeau · 1790512755 · focus · HN ↗

         I had chatgpt censor it's initial answer the other day when asking about two cognate words with no sensitivity issues. I asked why I couldn't ask such questions and it relented. How will they know what is provocative?

         1. StilesCrisis · 1790514675 · focus · HN ↗

            The censor is separate from the generation. It didn't "relent" so much as "produce a slightly different output that didn't trigger the censor's threshold."

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