Next-Token Predictor Is An AI's Job, Not Its Species

<p>I.</p> <p>In The Argument, <a href= "https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-technically-true-becomes-actually"> Kelsey Piper gives a good description</a> of the ways that AIs are more than just "next-token predictors" or "stochastic parrots" - for example, they also use fine-tuning and RLHF. But commenters, while appreciating the subtleties she introduces, object that they're still just extra layers on top of a machine that basically runs on next-token prediction.</p> <p>I want to approach this from a different direction. I think overemphasizing next-token prediction is a confusion of …