Are Language Models More Like Libraries or Like Librarians? Bibliotechnism, the Novel Reference Problem, and the Attitudes of LLMs

arXiv:2401.04854v2 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: Are LLMs cultural technologies like photocopiers or printing presses, which transmit information but cannot create new content? A challenge for this idea, which we call bibliotechnism, is that LLMs often generate entirely novel text. We begin (Part I) with a sustained defense of bibliotechnism against this challenge showing how even entirely novel text may be meaningful only in a derivative sense, and arguing that, in particular, much novel text generated by LLMs is only derivatively …

abstract arxiv call challenge cs.cl generate information language language models libraries llms novel printing reference technologies text type