Monday, August 21, 2023
12:30-1:30 pm Pacific / 3:30-4:30 pm Eastern

Online via Zoom

Session Facilitator: Middlebury College Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Dr. Phil Chodrow

This session is a brief overview on generative language models. We’ll begin by describing the two technical tasks that underlie contemporary language models, next-token prediction and reinforcement learning with human feedback. We’ll then turn a critical eye towards claims about the capabilities of these models, especially those propagated by large tech corporations. We’ll close with a discussion of the impacts of language models on labor, the environment, artistic production, and cultural representation.