L is for Language

(insert snappy subtitle here)*

I recently reconnected with a former colleague, Stacia Varga. Stacia is a gifted technologist who inspires me (and many others) in life and technology. During the second hour of our 30-minute meeting, she asked my opinion of AI. I shared about LMs (Language Models) because I’ve had more exposure to LLMs (Large Language Models) than any other technology referred to as “artificial intelligence.”

LLMs became popular almost two years ago. You read that correctly, it has not quite been two years since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the general public. It’s seems longer because marketing people have done their jobs well and the technology has captivated our imaginations.

There’s a reason our imaginations are drawn to LLMs: We can talk to machines and they now talk back. I mostly type and LLMs type back, but I hope you get the point: the machine and I (appear to) communicate.

Regarding Language

It’s easy to overlook the impact of language. Taking language for granted is up there with fish considering the wetness of water. We use language regularly but it’s not something we often think about. Language is the powerful enabler of just about everything around us.

There are many historical references to the power of language. Most are a combination of mythical and mystical. The study of language spans at least two general fields: linguistics and philology. Oversimplifying, linguistics takes a “mechanical” approach to language, studying its structure (think semantics); while philology encompasses language origins and history with the goal better comprehending what was (or is) written (think context).

Genesis 11:1-9 records the story of the Tower of Babel**. The first verse states: “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.” Verses 6-7 state: “The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’” (emphasis mine) It’s worth taking the time reading the entire passage. It can be read in less than one minute.

Part of the plot to Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash involves the power of language in a connected world. The novel references concepts of language from the past - relatively close in time to the biblical writings about the tower of Babel.

Language in Language Models