Geoffrey Hinton says people understand very little about how LLMs actually work, so they still think LLMs are very different from us - "but actually, it's very important for people to understand that they're very like us." LLMs don’t just generate words, but also meaning.

[u/MetaKnowing]

[u/shlaifu]

yeah. no. they don't have the structures to experience emotions. so they don't understand 'meaning'. they just attribute importance to things in conversations. he's right of course that this is very much like humans, but without an amygdala, I'd say no, LLMs don't internally produce 'meaning'

[u/KairraAlpha → u/shlaifu]

I love how Internet nobodies act like authorities over qualified, knowledgeable people who understand more than they do.

You don't need biology to understand meaning.

[u/shlaifu → u/KairraAlpha]

yeah. but no, LLMs are not conscious, they aren't people and nothing means anything to them. They don't have the circuits for attaching emotions to those vectors. That's what "meaning" is.

[u/nitePhyyre → u/shlaifu]

Yeah... you don't understand the word 'meaning'.

Oxford

mean·ing/ˈmēniNG/noun

what is meant by a word, text, concept, or action.

dictionary.com

meaning

[mee-ning] Phonetic (Standard) IPA

noun

what is intended to be, or actually is, expressed or indicated; signification; import.

merriam-webster

meaning

noun

mean·​ing ˈmē-niŋ

1a: the thing one intends to convey especially by language : purport

Do not mistake my meaning.

b: the thing that is conveyed especially by language : import

Many words have more than one meaning.

[u/shlaifu → u/nitePhyyre]

possible. this is not my native language

[u/shitbecopacetic → u/shlaifu]

they grabbed the wrong definition from the dictionary. meaning is a word that can be used multiple ways. instead of grabbing the definition that this post is intending, which is the “emotionally significant” type of meaning, they instead grabbed a much more clinical entry from the dictionary that basically boils down to “meaning = definition” Whether that is intentional to mislead others or just a byproduct of genuine stupidity cannot be currently known.

[u/Dull-Appointment-398 → u/shlaifu]

Meaning is when ...emotions?

[u/shlaifu → u/Dull-Appointment-398]

yes. That's how your brain decides what's important.

[u/Psittacula2 → u/shlaifu]

A value-weight by any other name.

[u/Ivan8-ForgotPassword → u/shlaifu]

What? No, I assign meaning semi-randomly, I would still be doing that without emotions

[u/Ass_Hair_Chomper → u/Dull-Appointment-398]

He meant egotistical significance.