HACKER Q&A
📣 solardev

Can humans learn like LLMs do?


I've tried to read the AI and GPT papers, but they are way, way over my head.

I was wondering... is it possible for a person to utilize the same statistical techniques to learn the way an LLM does?

Like if someone threw a copy of the Wikipedia at me (ouch), could I try to use the same algorithms and models in my head to create a similar output, just much more slowly?

Sorry if this a dumb question! I don't really know how these systems work, either the GPTs or the human brain. Lately I've begun to doubt my own humanity, wondering if I'm also just a poor chatbot with a little more prior training. Is that possible, or are we really that different?

  👤 viraptor Accepted Answer ✓
Depends on what you mean by "like". When born we have no concept of grammar and learn the one our environment uses. You get samples of sounds and you get rewarded for responding to them correctly. At that level, it's exactly the same thing LLM does.

If you mean, do we create a similar mental model for the language to what happens in the LLM weights - I believe we can't tell one way or the other yet.