LLMs Don't Write, They Generate
Everyone is mad about AI watermarking.
The thing is.
These machines don’t write.
Writers write. Machines generate. LLMs can watermark text without affecting the quality of the output because they are benchmarked on the usefulness of their output rather than the meaning of the text.
LLMs don’t reflect on meaning, consider their audience, and convey thoughts with care.
LLMs generate a probable output to the input. That’s all.
AI companies don’t value writing because they’ve never thought about writing. AI companies value the likelihood that the machine produces useful output. Not a meaningful output.
LLMs have gotten really good at generating probable outputs that are productive.
But it’s still probable. And only mostly productive. But rarely meaningful.
Saying that an LLM writes is as accurate as saying a lawn mower gardens, an airplane vacations, or a microwave is a chef.1
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Ha! Oh dear. I wanted to write the word “cooks” here but I can’t. Is there another word for “cooks with great culinary skill” in English? Perhaps language is changing and LLMs do, in fact, “write” with the same skill that a microwave cooks. ↩︎