← Back to context

Comment by potatoman22

2 days ago

It's technically deterministic, but it feels nondeterministic in chatbots since tokens are randomly sampled (temp > 0) and input is varied. Using the right prompt makes the model perform better on average, so it's not completely dumb.

I like task vectors and soft prompts because I think they show how prompt engineering is cool and useful.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2310.15916

https://huggingface.co/docs/peft/conceptual_guides/prompting

> It's technically deterministic, but it feels nondeterministic in chatbots since tokens are randomly sampled

Are you not aware the random sampling makes something non-deterministic?

  • I'm saying LLMs are deterministic and because of that, prompt engineering can be effective. You knew what I was trying to say, but chose to ignore it.

    You should follow the HN Guidelines. I'm trying to have a discussion, not a snarkfest.

    > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.

    > Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.