The radical philosopher Jacques Derrida challenged the conventional belief that speech precedes writing, arguing that writing is fundamental to language’s structure and meaning. Current large language models, reliant on text, support Derrida’s theory, emphasizing the enduring and analyzable nature of written language compared to the ephemeral and context-dependent qualities of speech. (Word count: 50)More
Voice chat
The latest incarnation of large language models (e.g. ChatGPT) generates convincing spoken responses to spoken input. You can talk (as well as type) to your AI, as if on a smartphone. It’s called “voice chat,” and I used OpenAI’s new voice chat app on my smartphone to enter into a conversation clarifying certain aspects of…More
AI scripts a debate about urban glare
I’m testing the ability of large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, to conduct AI to AI conversations that in some way parallel how two people might work through a problem together. I’ve discovered that it’s not necessary to contrive a condition where two AIs talk to each other as in my previous post, or where…More
Manufacturing debate
I used copy-paste to implement a conversation between chatGPT and Claude. The two AI models were primed with the same warning about an apocalyptic future of AI-AI interactions. They agreed on everything and simply added further facts and opinions about warnings, the need for caution, legislative measures and more research on how to make AI…More
Pond algae: an inter-AI conversation
What happens when AI chatbots talk to one another? There are numerous transcripts, videos and reviews online of such inter-AI conversations — some real, fake or doctored, sometimes to demonstrate the shortcomings or absurdities of conversational AI. I am interested in whether such inter-AI conversations can lead to anything like collaborative problem solving. As a…More
Thought as conversation
Cogitating, rehearsing ideas in the mind, is a highly advantageous byproduct of our ability to converse with one another. That is, the ability of human beings to think things through silently and privately has developed along with the human ability to communicate with one another in language. Some theorists even assert that conversation comes first;…More
Can an AI only think “fast”?
In his popular book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman identifies how any individual is capable of making snap judgements, and with obvious advantage. That kind of “fast” thinking is necessary and appropriate in many cases. Jumping out of the way of an oncoming car, reaching for the chicken at a finger buffet, or raising…More
How to co-create with your AI
People often remember better, or differently, when in the company of others. A reading of sociologist Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945) and science writer Israel Rosenfield (1939-) supports the collaborative aspects of remembering, recalling, interpreting and, in terms often used in logic and language studies — generalising. Conversation provides the primary demonstration of this capacity to recall…More
Neural networks that recall
It looks as though LLM technology can enhance web search without conceptually overhauling the web search methodology. (See previous post: AI versus web search.) But is there a way that neural network retrieval methodologies can be used as a substitute for explicit indexing? After all, the human capacity to recall does not rely on indexing.…More
AI versus web search
Discussions of AI in web search are often overtaken by concerns over the risks associated with automated user profiling (see post Surveillance capitalism and its discontents). Setting aside that raft of concerns, it’s worth reviewing claims about how AI facilitates efficient and helpful web search. AI enabled search Gemini (https://gemini.google.com/) is the name of Google’s…More