Devarim: large Language models

This parsha is not a memoir. It is an apology. Were it not for the failure of faith in conquering the land, marked by the scouting expedition, the Israelites would have arrived at the Promised Land in 11 days.  Instead it took 38 years, a new generation and a new leadership. 

Moshe explains his failings in that mission.  He recognized that 

וָאֹמַ֣ר אֲלֵכֶ֔ם בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹ֑ר לֹא־אוּכַ֥ל לְבַדִּ֖י שְׂאֵ֥ת אֶתְכֶֽם׃

Thereupon I said to you, “I cannot bear the burden of you by myself.

The Sinai experience -when Moses transmitted the Divine Law, when the nation created the golden calf , when Moses broke the tablets, and saved the people by assuaging Gd's anger -    had put a wedge between Moshe's worldview and that of ordinary people.  Moses and the people no longer spoke the same language. The words were shared, the  meanings differed. 

Then came the scouting expedition.  This was a popular idea, a plan that made sense. Moshe thought the people would be encouraged by the evidence of plentitude of the land. He charged the scouts to bring back samples of the fruit. There could be no denial of the potential of the Promised Land. But the spies also said that conquest was impossible.  The current inhabitants were too strong. The new message erased the memories of the miracles that had liberated the Israelites from the oppression of  most powerful  nation on earth. 

Devarim is always read on the Shabbath before Tisha Ba'av.  Tisha Ba'av  is a fast day commemorating tragedies that befell the Israelites and the Jewish people. The mishna enumerates five events: the return of the  above mentioned spies ( which brought the 40 years in the desert); the destruction of the first and second temples; the defeat of Bar Kochba's attempt to re-establish Jewish autonomy; and the plowing over of Jerusalem. These are not random tragedies, they are all political defeats of national autonomy. They all bring exile and alienation. 

The consequences of this exile have been devastating and glorifying. The Jew is an alien everywhere and to everyone. To the powerful, the Jew is a competitor and a potential victim.  To the oppressed, the Jew is and oppressor.  To the Jew, the variations in sect and values create irreconcilable enmities. 

This year, large language model apps have been introduced to the public. These "artificial intelligence " programs communicate in a more natural appearing way. They are tapping into the language usage of millions of people. The information they present is a mixture of common beliefs and whatever happens to be on the internet.  Often this generates statements of what "should" be - a combination of wish and logic. We are repeatedly told that it is flawed, but it makes tasks too easy to set it aside completely. 

Like the intelligence of the spies sent by Moses on Tisha Ba'av, the intelligence of large language models cannot avoid popular prejudice. Those prejudices can mislead to alienation, exile and the wrath of Gd.

The danger of large language models is magnified by its youth. I see my  2 and 3 year old grandchildren develop facility with language.  I see how language is a scaffold upon which  dreams and ideas can be built.  I hear the wildly erroneous first impressions tha language development can create. As the child grows, some errors are corrected, others are adorned and made acceptable by eloquence. I suspecct the same will happen with LLM AI.  Beware of the eloquence.