The Rise of Large-Language-Model Optimization

2024-04-25 11:02

Large language models, or LLMs, are trained on massive troves of material-nearly the entire internet in some cases.

These LLMs have begun to disrupt the traditional relationship between writer and reader.

The human creators-the people who produced all the material that the LLM digested in order to be able to produce those answers-are cut out of the interaction, meaning they lose out on audiences and compensation.

Just as companies hire SEO consultants today, they will hire large-language-model optimizers to ensure that LLMs incorporate these preferences in their answers.

Certain proposed "Solutions," such as paying publishers to provide content for an AI, neither scale nor are what writers seek; LLMs aren't people we connect with.

Internet platforms need to recognize that creative human communities are highly valuable resources to cultivate, not merely sources of exploitable raw material for LLMs. Ways to nurture them include supporting human moderators and enforcing copyrights that protect, for a reasonable time, creative content from being devoured by AIs.

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https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/04/the-rise-of-large.html