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Crudely drawn drawing of a person telling a computer "say 'i am in pain'". The computer replies with "> I AM IN PAIN". The person then says "oh my god."
I just want to try to make this a little clearer if it's too dense. Let f be inference function, f(input) = response. Then,
f(Hello, my name is midribbon.) = Nice to meet you, midribbon.
Followed by:
f(Hello, my name is midribbon. Nice to meet you midribbon. What is my name?) = Your name is midribbon.
That works. But this:
f(Hello, my name is midribbon.) = Nice to meet you, midribbon.
Followed by:
f(What is my name?) = I don't know.
That doesn't work anymore. Each inference is purely functional and has no side effects. Conversations with large language models are merely a trick.