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Bender says large language models are parlor tricks exploiting human perception

Emily M. Bender · AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking · May 14, 2025 · at 1:05

Emily M. Bender, linguistics professor at the University of Washington and co-author of 'The AI Con', outlines her core critique of generative AI.

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“Right down at the bottom, you've got the fact that especially large language models are a technology that is, that's a parlor trick. It plays on our ability to make sense of language and makes it very easy to believe there's a thinking entity inside of there.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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Opinion
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Emily M. Bender May 14, 2025 ▶ 24:10 AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking
Assertion Partly supported
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Emily M. Bender May 14, 2025 ▶ 5:34 AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking
Assertion Supported
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Emily M. Bender May 14, 2025 ▶ 10:49 AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking
Insight
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Emily M. Bender May 14, 2025 ▶ 14:30 AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking
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Emily M. Bender May 14, 2025 ▶ 58:32 AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking
Insight
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Emily M. Bender May 14, 2025 ▶ 20:27 AI’s Drawbacks: Environmental Damage, Bad Benchmarks, Outsourcing Thinking
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