Tech analyst Benedict Evans explains the fundamental mechanics of generative AI models during a discussion on machine cognition and AI misconceptions.
0:00 / 0:35exact quote · 35.3s
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“What is generative AI trying to do? Which is, is not actually trying to reproduce any individual thing in the training data. So, you know, when we did image recognition models, 10 years ago, you give it a billion pictures of cats. The purpose is not that it can recognize any individual cat picture. The purpose is it now has a conception of cats. And the same thing when you give a generative model, you know, a billion photographs or a billion bits of text or something. The purpose is not that it's got a database and it can reproduce any of those images or any of those bits of text. The purpose is now that it infers patterns across billions of images or billions of bits of text.”
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