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Comment by delecti

1 day ago

I don't agree that that's the right definition to use though. LLMs do not output computed or measured values.

If I expect Windows to add $5 to my bank account every time I click the Start button, that's not an error with Windows, it's a problem with my expectations. It's not a thing that's actually made to do that. The start button does what it's supposed to (perhaps a bad example, because the windows 11 start menu is rubbish), not my imagined desired behavior.

> LLMs do not output computed or measured values.

LLMs output a vector of softmax probabilities for each step in the output sequence (the probability distribution). Each element in the vector maps to a specific word for that sequence step. What you see as a "word" in LLM output is "vector position with 'best' probability in softmax probability distribution".

And that is most definitely a computed value. Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

https://medium.com/@22.gautam/softmax-function-the-unsung-he...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349823091/figure/fi...