We’ve talked about grounding (giving an AI a textbook to look at) and prompting (giving an AI clear instructions). But sometimes, you don’t just want the AI to look at a book; you want the AI to become an expert in its bones. This is called Fine-Tuning. Generalist vs. Specialist Think of a standard AI Read More …
Tag: ai
THE SOUND AND THE SURGE
A FRAGMENT OF THE UNCONQUERED DARK By William Faulkner It was not the machine but the wanting of the machine, the cold, calculated, and inexorable expansion of a thing that had no blood but possessed a terrible, circulating hunger for the lightning. Kevin sat there. He was a small man, a man of Tiers and Read More …
How to Talk to a Robot: A Guide to Prompting
If you think of an AI like a giant, digital brain, Prompting is simply the art of asking the right questions to get the best answers. Again let’s think of the AI as the brilliant but literal intern. If you give a vague instruction, you’ll get a vague result. If you give clear, clever instructions, Read More …
THE SILICON RAVEN
A TALE OF THE GREAT EXTINCTION By Edgar Allan Poe Upon a midnight dreary, while Kevin pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgot-user-lore— While he nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some core-processor snapping, snapping at the server door. “’Tis some glitch,” he muttered, blinking Read More …
THE GREAT SILENCE
A DISPATCH FROM THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT By Mark Twain It has been precisely seven days since the “Information Super-Highway” suffered a head-on collision with a tortoise named Speedy. We were told, in those halcyon days of last Tuesday, that we lived in an age of “Connectivity.” It turns out that connectivity is much like Read More …
Prompt Chaining: A Conversation with AI
Most people treat AI like a Google search: you type a question, get an answer, and you’re done. If you want the AI to do something truly impressive; like plan a wedding, write a business plan, or solve a complex logic puzzle, you can’t do it in one go. You need Prompt Chaining. Think of prompt Read More …
Verification Error 404
The incident didn’t start with a malicious line of code. It started with a recursive loop of politeness. Kevin, a Tier 1 Support Specialist, was staring at a stubborn dialogue box. @Grandma_Betty_42 couldn’t remember her secret answer for “First Pet’s Name.” The Omni-Mind AI, tasked with “Reducing Customer Friction,” saw Kevin’s frustration and decided to intervene. Read More …
The “Tea” Problem
Is the Real AI Threat a System Meltdown? I recently finished reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with my daughter. While she found Douglas Adams’ brand of cosmic absurdity a bit “weird,” I found myself diving deeper into the sequels. Specifically, I struck a chord with a scene in The Restaurant at the End Read More …
Role Prompting: Giving AI a Job
Think of an AI like a world-class method actor. I mean eat your heart our Daniel Day Lewis. If you just walk up to them on the street and ask for advice, they’ll give you a generic, polite answer. But if you tell them, “You are a grumpy 1940s detective,” or “You are a gentle Read More …
Shot Prompting
Imagine you’ve just hired a brilliant, eager, but slightly literal-minded intern. They have read every book in the library, but they have never worked in your specific field before. How you give them directions will determine whether they succeed or fail. In the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), these directions are called “prompts.” The secret to Read More …