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Main Authors: Cherkassky, Vladimir, Lee, Eng Hock
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.06598
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author Cherkassky, Vladimir
Lee, Eng Hock
author_facet Cherkassky, Vladimir
Lee, Eng Hock
contents Large Language Models (LLMs) are known for their remarkable ability to generate synthesized 'knowledge', such as text documents, music, images, etc. However, there is a huge gap between LLM's and human capabilities for understanding abstract concepts and reasoning. We discuss these issues in a larger philosophical context of human knowledge acquisition and the Turing test. In addition, we illustrate the limitations of LLMs by analyzing GPT-4 responses to questions ranging from science and math to common sense reasoning. These examples show that GPT-4 can often imitate human reasoning, even though it lacks understanding. However, LLM responses are synthesized from a large LLM model trained on all available data. In contrast, human understanding is based on a small number of abstract concepts. Based on this distinction, we discuss the impact of LLMs on acquisition of human knowledge and education.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_06598
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Perspective on Large Language Models, Intelligent Machines, and Knowledge Acquisition
Cherkassky, Vladimir
Lee, Eng Hock
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Large Language Models (LLMs) are known for their remarkable ability to generate synthesized 'knowledge', such as text documents, music, images, etc. However, there is a huge gap between LLM's and human capabilities for understanding abstract concepts and reasoning. We discuss these issues in a larger philosophical context of human knowledge acquisition and the Turing test. In addition, we illustrate the limitations of LLMs by analyzing GPT-4 responses to questions ranging from science and math to common sense reasoning. These examples show that GPT-4 can often imitate human reasoning, even though it lacks understanding. However, LLM responses are synthesized from a large LLM model trained on all available data. In contrast, human understanding is based on a small number of abstract concepts. Based on this distinction, we discuss the impact of LLMs on acquisition of human knowledge and education.
title A Perspective on Large Language Models, Intelligent Machines, and Knowledge Acquisition
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.06598