What's your counterargument to "LLMs are just next-token predictors"?
thekokoricky · reddit · 2026-09-29
A Reddit thread asks how to counter the "it's just a next-token predictor" framing of LLMs.
The poster argues that what modern LLMs do clearly goes beyond literally predicting the next word — something resembling human logic and reasoning seems to be at work, even if hard to articulate. The discussion covers emergence from prediction, whether abstraction and reasoning are side effects of prediction, and better framings for describing what LLMs actually do.
More from AGI Musings
- Tegmark: AI control loss is here — the debate should be about racing in a pro-human direction — tegmark · 2026-09-29
- Novel Pulled from Prix Goncourt Shortlist Over AI Allegations, Igniting French Literary Panic — adariostrange · 2026-09-29
- Why product management may be the safest role from AI disruption — Zachly · 2026-09-29
- AI labs are the 21st century railroads: doom talk is a bid for regulation-backed monopoly, argues investor — kevinnbass · 2026-09-29
- Gladstone AI interviews a dozen diplomats: no US-China AI treaty, just a crisis phone call — harris_edouard · 2026-09-29
- Ben Thompson: pre-built UI is dead, on-demand agent-built apps are the new era — rseroter · 2026-09-29