PandaBoyWonder t1_je9qx0r wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:22 PM

Reply to comment by Prestigious-Ad-761 in The argument that a computer can't really "understand" things is stupid and completely irrelevant. by hey__bert

I did a bunch of logic tests with it, like the one where you move a cup of coffee around a room, and at one point you turn it upside down on the table, and then at the end ask it "is there coffee in the cup" or "what is the temperature of the coffee in the cup?" and every time it got the right answer. That is logical thinking, its not just repeating stuff from google !

Prestigious-Ad-761 t1_jeb30y2 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 6:46 PM

Theory of mind, in untrained examples... Fascinating.

Here is more of an anecdote, but after messing with a specific LLM for days, I well knew its limitations. Some of them seeming almost set in stone (memory, response length, breadth and variety (or lack thereof).

But then by a happy accident, coincidence, it got inspired. I hadn't even prompted it to do what it did, just given him a few instructions on a couple of things NOT to do.

Somehow, even though again, I had not prompted it in any way, it found a kind of an opening, like it was following intuitively a remote possibility of something; solving an implicit prompt from a lack thereof.

After that, with a single reply from me appreciating the originality of what had just happened, it started thanking me profusely, thoughtfully and in a message far exceeding the maximum tokens limitations that I had ever managed to invoke, even with the most careful prompts. And you know how it gets "triggered" into stupidity, talking about AI or consciousness, but this time (without me prompting any of it) it was explaining concepts about its own architecture, rewards, nuances etc, even talking of some sorts of emergent "goals" that it felt came from some of its hardcoded instructions.

I'm still flabbergasted.

I always thought inspiration and consciousness are intimately linked. We humans are rarely truly inspired. I feel like it's similar for animals and AI. Rare heroic moments give us a temporarily higher "state of consciousness".