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large language models (llms)

Historically, technological revolutions have significantly affected jobs, often eliminating certain roles while creating new ones in unpredictable areas.

This pattern has been observed for centuries, from the introduction of the horse collar in Europe, through the Industrial Revolution, and up to the current digital age.

With each technological advance, fears arise about job losses, but history suggests that technology is, in the long run, a net creator of jobs.

The agricultural revolution, for example, led to a decline in farming jobs but gave rise to an increase in manufacturing roles.

Similarly, the rise of the automobile industry in the early 20th century led to the creation of multiple supplementary industries, such as filling stations and automobile repair, despite eliminating jobs in the horse-carriage industry.

The introduction of personal computers and the internet also followed a similar pattern, with an estimated net gain of 15.8 million jobs in the U.S. over the last few decades.

Now, with generative AI and robots with us, we are entering the fourth industrial revolution. Here are some stats to show you the seriousness of the situation:

  1. Generative AI could add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually across 63 use cases analyzed. Read more
  2. Current generative AI technologies have the potential to automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today, which is a significant increase from the previous estimate that technology has the potential to automate half of the time employees spend working.

This bang of generative AI’s impact will be heard in almost all of the industries globally, with the biggest impact seen in banking, high-tech, and life sciences.

This means that lots of people will be losing jobs. We can see companies laying off jobs already. Read more

But what’s more concerning is the fact that different communities will face this impact differently.

How will generative AI affect the jobs of the black communities

Regarding the annual wealth generation from generative AI, it’s estimated to produce around $7 trillion worldwide, with nearly $2 trillion of that projected to benefit the United States.

US household wealth captures about 30 percent of US GDP, suggesting the United States could gain nearly $500 billion in household wealth from gen AI value creation. This would translate to an average of $3,400 in new wealth for each of the projected 143.4 million US households in 2045.

However, black Americans capture only about 38 cents of every dollar of new household wealth despite representing 13 percent of the US population. If this trend continues, by 2045, the racially disparate distribution of new wealth created by generative AI could increase the wealth gap between black and White households by $43 billion annually.

Generative AI impact on black communities
Source: McKinsey and Company

 

Generative AI revolutionizing jobs for success

Higher employment of black community in high mobility jobs

Mobility jobs are those that provide livable wages and the potential for upward career development over time without requiring a four-year college degree.

They have two tiers including target jobs and gateway jobs.

  1. Gateway jobs are positions that do not require a four-year college degree and are based on experience. They offer a salary of more than $42,000 per year and can unlock a trajectory for career upward mobility.An example of a gateway job could be a role in customer support, where an individual has significant experience in client interaction and problem-solving.
  2. Target jobs represent the next level up for people without degrees. These are attractive occupations in terms of risk and income, offering generally higher annual salaries and stable positions.An example of a target job might be a production supervision role, where a worker oversees manufacturing processes and manages a team on the production floor.

Generative AI may significantly affect these occupations, as many of the tasks associated with them—including customer support, production supervision, and office support—are precisely what generative AI can do well.

For black workers, this is particularly relevant. Seventy-four percent of black workers do not have college degrees, yet in the past five years, one in every eight has moved to a gateway or target job.

However, gen AI may be able to perform about half of these gateway or target jobs that many workers without degrees have pursued between 2030 and 2060. This could close a pathway to upward mobility that many black workers have relied on.

Generative AI - high mobility jobs
Source: McKinsey and Company

Furthermore, coding bootcamps and training, which have risen in popularity and have unlocked access to high-paying jobs for many workers without college degrees, are also at risk of disruption as gen AI–enabled programming has the potential to automate many entry-level coding positions.

These shifts could potentially widen the racial wealth gap and increase inequality if not managed thoughtfully and proactively.

Therefore, it is crucial for initiatives to be put in place to support black workers through this transition, such as reskilling programs and the development of “future-proof skills”.

These skills include socioemotional abilities, physical presence skills, and the ability to engage in nuanced problem-solving in specific contexts. Focusing efforts on developing non-automatable skills will better position black workers for the rapid changes that gen AI will bring.

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How can generative AI be utilized to close the racial wealth gap in the United States?

 

Despite all the foreseeable downsides of Generative AI, it has the potential to close the racial wealth gap in the United States by leveraging its capabilities across various sectors that influence economic mobility for black communities.

In healthcare, generative AI can improve access to care and outcomes for black Americans, addressing issues such as preterm births and enabling providers to identify risk factors earlier.

In financial inclusion, gen AI can enhance access to banking services, helping black consumers connect with traditional banking and save on fees associated with nonbank financial services.

Additionally,  AI can be applied to the eight pillars of black economic mobility, including credit and ecosystem development for small businesses, health, workforce and jobs, pre–K–12 education, the digital divide, affordable housing, and public infrastructure.

Thoughtful application of gen AI can generate personalized financial plans and marketing, support the creation of long-term financial plans, and enhance compliance monitoring to ensure equitable access to financial products.

However, to truly close the racial wealth gap, generative AI must be deployed with an equity lens. This involves reskilling workers, ensuring that AI is used in contexts where it can make fair decisions, and establishing guardrails to protect black and marginalized communities from potential negative impacts of the technology.

Democratized access to generative AI and the cultivation of diverse tech talent is also critical to ensure that the benefits of gen AI are equitably distributed.

 

Embracing the Future: Ensuring Equity in the Generative AI Era

 

In conclusion, the advent of generative AI presents a complex and multifaceted challenge, particularly for the black community.

While it offers immense potential for economic growth and innovation, it also poses a significant risk of exacerbating existing inequalities and widening the racial wealth gap. To harness the benefits of this technological revolution while mitigating its risks, it is crucial to implement inclusive strategies.

These should focus on reskilling programs, equitable access to technology, and the development of non-automatable skills. By doing so, we can ensure that generative AI becomes a tool for promoting economic mobility and reducing disparities, rather than an instrument that deepens them.

The future of work in the era of generative AI demands not only technological advancement but also a commitment to social justice and equality.

January 18, 2024

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if computers could see the world just like we do? Think about it – a machine that can look at a photo and understand everything in it, just like you would.

This isn’t science fiction anymore; it’s what’s happening right now with Large Vision Models (LVMs).

Large vision models are a type of AI technology that deal with visual data like images and videos. Essentially, they are like big digital brains that can understand and create visuals.

They are trained on extensive datasets of images and videos, enabling them to recognize patterns, objects, and scenes within visual content.

LVMs can perform a variety of tasks such as image classification, object detection, image generation, and even complex image editing, by understanding and manipulating visual elements in a way that mimics human visual perception.

How large vision models differ from large language models

Large Vision Models and Large Language Models both handle large data volumes but differ in their data types. LLMs process text data from the internet, helping them understand and generate text, and even translate languages.

In contrast, LVMs focus on visual data, working to comprehend and create images and videos. However, they face a challenge: the visual data in practical applications, like medical or industrial images, often differs significantly from general internet imagery.

Internet-based visuals tend to be diverse but not necessarily representative of specialized fields. For example, the type of images used in medical diagnostics, such as MRI scans or X-rays, are vastly different from everyday photographs shared online.

Similarly, visuals in industrial settings, like manufacturing or quality control, involve specific elements that general internet images do not cover.

This discrepancy necessitates “domain specificity” in large vision models, meaning they need tailored training to effectively handle specific types of visual data relevant to particular industries.

Importance of domain-specific large vision models

Domain specificity refers to tailoring an LVM to interact effectively with a particular set of images unique to a specific application domain.

For instance, images used in healthcare, manufacturing, or any industry-specific applications might not resemble those found on the Internet.

Accordingly, an LVM trained with general Internet images may struggle to identify relevant features in these industry-specific images.

By making these models domain-specific, they can be better adapted to handle these unique visual tasks, offering more accurate performance when dealing with images different from those usually found on the internet.

For instance, a domain-specific LVM trained in medical imaging would have a better understanding of anatomical structures and be more adept at identifying abnormalities than a generic model trained in standard internet images.

This specialization is crucial for applications where precision is paramount, such as in detecting early signs of diseases or in the intricate inspection processes in manufacturing.

In contrast, LLMs are not concerned with domain-specificity as much, as internet text tends to cover a vast array of domains making them less dependent on industry-specific training data.

Performance of domain-specific LVMs compared with generic LVMs

Comparing the performance of domain-specific Large Vision Models and generic LVMs reveals a significant edge for the former in identifying relevant features in specific domain images.

In several experiments conducted by experts from Landing AI, domain-specific LVMs – adapted to specific domains like pathology or semiconductor wafer inspection – significantly outperformed generic LVMs in finding relevant features in images of these domains.

Large Vision Models
Source: DeepLearning.AI

Domain-specific LVMs were created with around 100,000 unlabeled images from the specific domain, corroborating the idea that larger, more specialized datasets would lead to even better models.

Additionally, when used alongside a small labeled dataset to tackle a supervised learning task, a domain-specific LVM requires significantly less labeled data (around 10% to 30% as much) to achieve performance comparable to using a generic LVM.

Training methods for LVMs

The training methods being explored for domain-specific Large Vision Models involve, primarily, the use of extensive and diverse domain-specific image datasets.

There is also an increasing interest in using methods developed for Large Language Models and applying them within the visual domain, as with the sequential modeling approach introduced for learning an LVM without linguistic data.

Sequential Modeling Approach for Training LVMs

 

This approach adapts the way LLMs process sequences of text to the way LVMs handle visual data. Here’s a simplified explanation:

Large Vision Models - LVMs - Sequential Modeling
Sequential Modeling Approach for Training LVMs

This approach adapts the way LLMs process sequences of text to the way LVMs handle visual data. Here’s a simplified explanation:

  1. Breaking Down Images into Sequences: Just like sentences in a text are made up of a sequence of words, images can also be broken down into a sequence of smaller, meaningful pieces. These pieces could be patches of the image or specific features within the image.
  2. Using a Visual Tokenizer: To convert the image into a sequence, a process called ‘visual tokenization’ is used. This is similar to how words are tokenized in text. The image is divided into several tokens, each representing a part of the image.
  3. Training the Model: Once the images are converted into sequences of tokens, the LVM is trained using these sequences.
    The training process involves the model learning to predict parts of the image, similar to how an LLM learns to predict the next word in a sentence. This is usually done using a type of neural network known as a transformer, which is effective at handling sequences.
  4. Learning from Context: Just like LLMs learn the context of words in a sentence, LVMs learn the context of different parts of an image. This helps the model understand how different parts of an image relate to each other, improving its ability to recognize patterns and details.
  5. Applications: This approach can enhance an LVM’s ability to perform tasks like image classification, object detection, and even image generation, as it gets better at understanding and predicting visual elements and their relationships.

The emerging vision of large vision models

Large Vision Models are advanced AI systems designed to process and understand visual data, such as images and videos. Unlike Large Language Models that deal with text, LVMs are adept at visual tasks like image classification, object detection, and image generation.

A key aspect of LVMs is domain specificity, where they are tailored to recognize and interpret images specific to certain fields, such as medical diagnostics or manufacturing. This specialization allows for more accurate performance compared to generic image processing.

LVMs are trained using innovative methods, including the Sequential Modeling Approach, which enhances their ability to understand the context within images.

As LVMs continue to evolve, they’re set to transform various industries, bridging the gap between human and machine visual perception.

January 9, 2024

AI hallucinations: When language models dream in algorithms. While there’s no denying that large language models can generate false information, we can take action to reduce the risk. Large Language Models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, often face a challenge: the possibility of producing inaccurate information.

 

Inaccuracies span a spectrum, from odd and inconsequential instances—such as suggesting the Golden Gate Bridge’s relocation to Egypt in 2016—to more consequential and problematic scenarios.

For instance, a mayor in Australia recently considered legal action against OpenAI because ChatGPT falsely asserted that he had admitted guilt in a major bribery scandal. Furthermore, researchers have identified that LLM-generated fabrications can be exploited to disseminate malicious code packages to unsuspecting software developers. Additionally, LLMs often provide erroneous advice related to mental health and medical matters, such as the unsupported claim that wine consumption can “prevent cancer.”

AI Hallucination Phenomenon
AI Hallucination Phenomenon

AI Hallucination Phenomenon

This inclination to produce unsubstantiated “facts” is commonly referred to as hallucination, and it arises due to the development and training methods employed in contemporary LLMs, as well as generative AI models in general.

What Are AI Hallucinations? AI hallucinations occur when a large language model (LLM) generates inaccurate information. LLMs, which power chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Bard, have the capacity to produce responses that deviate from external facts or logical context.

These hallucinations may appear convincing due to LLMs’ ability to generate coherent text, relying on statistical patterns to ensure grammatical and semantic accuracy within the given prompt.

  • However, hallucinations aren’t always plausible and can sometimes be nonsensical, making it challenging to pinpoint their exact causes on a case-by-case basis.
  • An alternative term for AI hallucinations is “confabulation.” While most commonly associated with LLMs, these inaccuracies can also manifest in AI-generated video, images, and audio.

Examples of AI Hallucinations

One well-known instance of AI hallucination occurred when Google’s chatbot, Bard, provided false information about the James Webb Space Telescope. In response to the query, “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year-old about?”

Case study: Bard

Bard falsely claimed that the telescope had captured the first images of an exoplanet beyond our solar system. However, this assertion was contradicted by NASA’s records, which showed that the first exoplanet images were obtained in 2004, while the James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2021.

This response by Bard, though seemingly plausible and contextually relevant, was debunked through fact-checking.

Another instance involved Meta’s demonstration of Galactica, an LLM designed for scientific researchers and students. When asked to draft a paper on creating avatars, the model cited a fabricated paper authored by a real expert in a related field.

 

Read more about -> 10 innovative ways to monetize business using ChatGPT

 

Types of AI Hallucinations

AI hallucinations can range from minor inconsistencies to wholly fabricated or contradictory information, including:

  1. Sentence contradiction: This occurs when an LLM generates a sentence that contradicts a previous sentence within the same output.

Example: Prompt: “Write a description of a landscape in four-word sentences.” Output: “The grass was green. The mountains were blue. The river was purple. The grass was brown.”

  1. Prompt contradiction: In this case, a sentence generated by the LLM contradicts the initial prompt used to generate it.

Example: Prompt: “Write a birthday card for my niece.” Output: “Happy anniversary, mom and dad!”

  1. Factual contradiction: LLMs may present fictitious information as fact.

Example: Prompt: “Name three cities in the United States.” Output: “New York, Los Angeles, Toronto.”

  1. Irrelevant or random hallucinations: These occur when the generated information lacks relevance to the input or output context.

Example: Prompt: “Describe London to me.” Output: “London is a city in England. Cats need to be fed at least once a day.”

Learn how to become a prompt engineer in 10 steps 

Causes of AI Hallucinations

Several technical reasons may underlie the occurrence of hallucinations in LLMs, although the exact mechanisms are often opaque. Some potential causes include:

  1. Data quality: Hallucinations can result from flawed information in the training data, which may contain noise, errors, biases, or inconsistencies.
  2. Generation method: Training and generation methods, even with consistent and reliable data, can contribute to hallucinations. Prior model generations’ biases or false decoding from the transformer may be factors. Models may also exhibit a bias toward specific or generic words, influencing the information they generate.
  3. Input context: Unclear, inconsistent, or contradictory input prompts can lead to hallucinations. Users can enhance results by refining their input prompts.

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Challenges Posed by AI Hallucinations

AI hallucinations present several challenges, including:

  1. Eroding user trust: Hallucinations can significantly undermine user trust in AI systems. As users perceive AI as more reliable, instances of betrayal can be more impactful.
  2. Anthropomorphism risk: Describing erroneous AI outputs as hallucinations can anthropomorphize AI technology to some extent. It’s crucial to remember that AI lacks consciousness and its own perception of the world. Referring to such outputs as “mirages” rather than “hallucinations” might be more accurate.
  3. Misinformation and deception: Hallucinations have the potential to spread misinformation, fabricate citations, and be exploited in cyberattacks, posing a danger to information integrity.
  4. Black box nature: Many LLMs operate as black box AI, making it challenging to determine why a specific hallucination occurred. Fixing these issues often falls on users, requiring vigilance and monitoring to identify and address hallucinations.

Training Models

Generative AI models have gained widespread attention for their ability to generate text, images, and more. However, it’s crucial to understand that these models lack true intelligence. Instead, they function as statistical systems that predict data based on patterns learned from extensive training examples, often sourced from the internet.

The Nature of Generative AI Models

  1. Statistical Systems: Generative AI models are statistical systems that forecast words, images, speech, music, or other data.
  2. Pattern Learning: These models learn patterns in data, including contextual information, to make predictions.
  3. Example-Based Learning: They learn from a vast dataset of examples, but their predictions are probabilistic and not indicative of true understanding.

Training Process of Language Models (LMs)

  1. Masking and Prediction: Language Models like those used in generative AI are trained by masking certain words for context and having the model predict the missing words, similar to predictive text on devices.
  2. Efficacy and Coherence: This training method is highly effective but does not guarantee coherent text generation.

Shortcomings of Large Language Models (LLMs)

  1. Grammatical but Incoherent Text: LLMs can produce grammatically correct but incoherent text, highlighting their limitations in generating meaningful content.
  2. Falsehoods and Contradictions: They can propagate falsehoods and combine conflicting information from various sources without discerning accuracy.
  3. Lack of Intent and Understanding: LLMs lack intent and don’t comprehend truth or falsehood; they form associations between words and concepts without assessing their accuracy.

Addressing Hallucination in LLMs

  1. Challenges of Hallucination: Hallucination in LLMs arises from their inability to gauge the uncertainty of their predictions and their consistency in generating outputs.
  2. Mitigation Approaches: While complete elimination of hallucinations may be challenging, practical approaches can help reduce them.

Practical Approaches to Mitigate Hallucination

  1. Knowledge Integration: Integrating high-quality knowledge bases with LLMs can enhance accuracy in question-answering systems.
  2. Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF): This approach involves training LLMs, collecting human feedback, and fine-tuning models based on human judgments.
  3. Limitations of RLHF: Despite its promise, RLHF also has limitations and may not entirely eliminate hallucination in LLMs.

In summary, generative AI models like LLMs lack true understanding and can produce incoherent or inaccurate content. Mitigating hallucinations in these models requires careful training, knowledge integration, and feedback-driven fine-tuning, but complete elimination remains a challenge. Understanding the nature of these models is crucial in using them responsibly and effectively.

Exploring different perspectives: The role of hallucination in creativity

Considering the potential unsolvability of hallucination, at least with current Large Language Models (LLMs), is it necessarily a drawback? According to Berns, not necessarily. He suggests that hallucinating models could serve as catalysts for creativity by acting as “co-creative partners.” While their outputs may not always align entirely with facts, they could contain valuable threads worth exploring. Employing hallucination creatively can yield outcomes or combinations of ideas that might not readily occur to most individuals.

“Hallucinations” as an Issue in Context

However, Berns acknowledges that “hallucinations” become problematic when the generated statements are factually incorrect or violate established human, social, or cultural values. This is especially true in situations where individuals rely on the LLMs as experts.

He states, “In scenarios where a person relies on the LLM to be an expert, generated statements must align with facts and values. However, in creative or artistic tasks, the ability to generate unexpected outputs can be valuable. A human recipient might be surprised by a response to a query and, as a result, be pushed into a certain direction of thought that could lead to novel connections of ideas.”

Are LLMs Held to Unreasonable Standards?

On another note, Ha argues that today’s expectations of LLMs may be unreasonably high. He draws a parallel to human behavior, suggesting that humans also “hallucinate” at times when we misremember or misrepresent the truth. However, he posits that cognitive dissonance arises when LLMs produce outputs that appear accurate on the surface but may contain errors upon closer examination.

A skeptical approach to LLM predictions

Ultimately, the solution may not necessarily reside in altering the technical workings of generative AI models. Instead, the most prudent approach for now seems to be treating the predictions of these models with a healthy dose of skepticism.

In a nutshell

AI hallucinations in Large Language Models pose a complex challenge, but they also offer opportunities for creativity. While current mitigation strategies may not entirely eliminate hallucinations, they can reduce their impact. However, it’s essential to strike a balance between leveraging AI’s creative potential and ensuring factual accuracy, all while approaching LLM predictions with skepticism in our pursuit of responsible and effective AI utilization.

 

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September 15, 2023

In the dynamic realm of language models and data-driven apps, efficient orchestration frameworks are key. Explore LangChain and Llama Index, simplifying LLM-app interactions.


Large language models (LLMs) are becoming increasingly popular for a variety of tasks, such as natural language understanding, question answering, and text generation. However, LLMs can be complex and difficult to use, which is where orchestration frameworks come in.

Orchestration frameworks provide a way to manage and control LLMs. They can help to simplify the development and deployment of LLM-based applications, and they can also help to improve the performance and reliability of these applications.

There are a number of orchestration frameworks available, two of the most popular being LangChain and Llama Index.

Learn to build LLM applications                                          

LangChain and Orchestration Frameworks

LangChain is an open-source orchestration framework that is designed to be easy to use and scalable. It provides a number of features that make it well-suited for managing LLMs, such as:

  • A simple API that makes it easy to interact with LLMs
  • A distributed architecture that can scale to handle large numbers of LLMs
  • A variety of features for managing LLMs, such as load balancing, fault tolerance, and security

Llama Index is another open-source orchestration framework that is designed for managing LLMs. It provides a number of features that are similar to LangChain, such as:

  • A simple API
  • A distributed architecture
  • A variety of features for managing LLMs

However, Llama Index also has some unique features that make it well-suited for certain applications, such as:

  • The ability to query LLMs in a distributed manner
  • The ability to index LLMs so that they can be searched more efficiently

Both LangChain and Llama Index are powerful orchestration frameworks that can be used to manage LLMs. The best framework for a particular application will depend on the specific requirements of that application.

In addition to LangChain and Llama Index, there are a number of other orchestration frameworks available, such as Bard, Megatron, Megatron-Turing NLG and OpenAI Five. These frameworks offer a variety of features and capabilities, so it is important to choose the one that best meets the needs of your application.

LangChain and Orchestration Frameworks
LangChain and Orchestration Frameworks – Source: TheNewsStack

LlamaIndex and LangChain: Orchestrating LLMs

 

The venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) identifies both LlamaIndex and LangChain as orchestration frameworks that abstract away the complexities of prompt chaining, enabling seamless data querying and management between applications and LLMs. This orchestration process encompasses interactions with external APIs, retrieval of contextual data from vector databases, and maintaining memory across multiple LLM calls.

LlamaIndex: A data framework for the future

LlamaIndex distinguishes itself by offering a unique approach to combining custom data with LLMs, all without the need for fine-tuning or in-context learning. It defines itself as a “simple, flexible data framework for connecting custom data sources to large language models.” Moreover, it accommodates a wide range of data types, making it an inclusive solution for diverse data needs.

Continuous evolution: LlamaIndex 0.7.0

LlamaIndex is a dynamic and evolving framework. Its creator, Jerry Liu, recently released version 0.7.0, which focuses on enhancing modularity and customizability to facilitate the development of LLM applications that leverage your data effectively. This release underscores the commitment to providing developers with tools to architect data structures for LLM applications.

The LlamaIndex Ecosystem: LlamaHub

At the core of LlamaIndex lies LlamaHub, a data ingestion platform that plays a pivotal role in getting started with the framework. LlamaHub offers a library of data loaders and readers, making data ingestion a seamless process. Notably, LlamaHub is not exclusive to LlamaIndex; it can also be integrated with LangChain, expanding its utility.

 

 

Navigating the LlamaIndex workflow

Users of LlamaIndex typically follow a structured workflow:

  1. Parsing Documents into Nodes
  2. Constructing an Index (from Nodes or Documents)
  3. Optional Advanced Step: Building Indices on Top of Other Indices
  4. Querying the Index

The querying aspect involves interactions with an LLM, where a “query” serves as an input. While this process can be complex, it forms the foundation of LlamaIndex’s functionality.

In essence, LlamaIndex empowers users to feed pertinent information into an LLM prompt selectively. Instead of overwhelming the LLM with all custom data, LlamaIndex allows users to extract relevant information for each query, streamlining the process.

 

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Power of LlamaIndex and LangChain

LlamaIndex seamlessly integrates with LangChain, offering users flexibility in data retrieval and query management. It extends the functionality of data loaders by treating them as LangChain Tools and providing Tool abstractions to use LlamaIndex’s query engine alongside a LangChain agent.

Real-world applications: Context-augmented chatbots

LlamaIndex and LangChain join forces to create context-rich chatbots. Learn how these frameworks can be leveraged to build chatbots that provide enhanced contextual responses.

This comprehensive exploration unveils the potential of LlamaIndex, offering insights into its evolution, features, and practical applications.

Why are orchestration frameworks needed?

Data orchestration frameworks are essential for building applications on enterprise data because they help to:

  • Eliminate the need for foundation model retraining: Foundation models are large language models that are trained on massive datasets of text and code. They can be used to perform a variety of tasks, such as generating text, translating languages, and answering questions. However, foundation models can be expensive to train and retrain. Orchestration frameworks can help to reduce the need for retraining by allowing you to reuse trained models across multiple applications.

 

  • Overcome token limits: Foundation models often have token limits, which restrict the number of words or tokens that can be processed in a single request. Orchestration frameworks can help to overcome token limits by breaking down large tasks into smaller subtasks that can be processed separately.

  • Provide connectors for data sources: Orchestration frameworks typically provide connectors for a variety of data sources, such as databases, cloud storage, and APIs. This makes it easy to connect your data pipeline to the data sources that you need.

  • Reduce boilerplate code: Orchestration frameworks can help to reduce boilerplate code by providing a variety of pre-built components for common tasks, such as data extraction, transformation, and loading. This allows you to focus on the business logic of your application.

Popular orchestration frameworks

There are a number of popular orchestration frameworks available, including:

  • Prefect is an open-source orchestration framework that is written in Python. It is known for its ease of use and flexibility.

  • Airflow is an open-source orchestration framework that is written in Python. It is widely used in the enterprise and is known for its scalability and reliability.

  • Luigi is an open-source orchestration framework that is written in Python. It is known for its simplicity and performance.

  • Dagster is an open-source orchestration framework that is written in Python. It is known for its extensibility and modularity.

 

Read more –> FraudGPT: Evolution of ChatGPT into an AI weapon for cybercriminals in 2023

 

Choosing the right orchestration framework

When choosing an orchestration framework, there are a number of factors to consider, such as:

  1. Ease of use: The framework should be easy to use and learn, even for users with no prior experience with orchestration.
  2. Flexibility: The framework should be flexible enough to support a wide range of data pipelines and workflows.
  3. Scalability: The framework should be able to scale to meet the needs of your organization, even as your data volumes and processing requirements grow.
  4. Reliability: The framework should be reliable and stable, with minimal downtime.
  5. Community support: The framework should have a large and active community of users and contributors.

Conclusion

Orchestration frameworks are essential for building applications on enterprise data. They can help to eliminate the need for foundation model retraining, overcome token limits, connect to data sources, and reduce boilerplate code. When choosing an orchestration framework, consider factors such as ease of use, flexibility, scalability, reliability, and community support.

September 14, 2023

Virginia Tech and Microsoft unveiled the Algorithm of Thoughts, a breakthrough AI method supercharging idea exploration and reasoning prowess in Large Language Models (LLMs).

 


 

How Microsoft’s human-like reasoning algorithm could make AI smarter

Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) have drawn significant attention due to their versatility in problem-solving tasks. These models have demonstrated their competence across various problem-solving scenarios, encompassing code generation, instruction comprehension, and general problem resolution.

The trajectory of contemporary research has shifted towards more sophisticated strategies, departing from the initial direct answer approaches. Instead, modern approaches favor linear reasoning pathways, breaking down intricate problems into manageable subtasks to facilitate a systematic solution search. Moreover, these approaches integrate external processes to influence token generation by modifying the contextual information.

 

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In current research endeavors, a prevalent practice involves the adoption of an external operational mechanism that intermittently interrupts, adjusts, and then resumes the generation process. This tactic is employed with the objective of enhancing LLMs’ reasoning capabilities. However, it does entail certain drawbacks, including an increase in query requests, resulting in elevated expenses, greater memory requirements, and heightened computational overhead.

Under the spotlight: “Algorithm of Thoughts”

Microsoft, the tech behemoth, has introduced an innovative AI training technique known as the “Algorithm of Thoughts” (AoT). This cutting-edge method is engineered to optimize the performance of expansive language models such as ChatGPT, enhancing their cognitive abilities to resemble human-like reasoning.

This unveiling marks a significant progression for Microsoft, a company that has made substantial investments in artificial intelligence (AI), with a particular emphasis on OpenAI, the pioneering creators behind renowned models like DALL-E, ChatGPT, and the formidable GPT language model.

Algorithm of Thoughts by Microsoft
Algorithm of Thoughts by Microsoft

Microsoft Unveils Groundbreaking AoT Technique: A Paradigm Shift in Language Models

In a significant stride towards AI evolution, Microsoft has introduced the “Algorithm of Thoughts” (AoT) technique, touting it as a potential game-changer in the field. According to a recently published research paper, AoT promises to revolutionize the capabilities of language models by guiding them through a more streamlined problem-solving path.

Empowering Language Models with In-Context Learning

At the heart of this pioneering approach lies the concept of “in-context learning.” This innovative mechanism equips the language model with the ability to explore various problem-solving avenues in a structured and systematic manner.

Accelerated Problem-Solving with Reduced Resource Dependency

The outcome of this paradigm shift in AI? Significantly faster and resource-efficient problem-solving. Microsoft’s AoT technique holds the promise of reshaping the landscape of AI, propelling language models like ChatGPT into new realms of efficiency and cognitive prowess.

 

Read more –>  ChatGPT Enterprise: OpenAI’s enterprise-grade version of ChatGPT

Synergy of Human & Algorithmic Intelligence: Microsoft’s AoT Method

The Algorithm of Thoughts (AoT) emerges as a promising solution to address the limitations encountered in current in-context learning techniques such as the Chain-of-Thought (CoT) approach. Notably, CoT at times presents inaccuracies in intermediate steps, a shortcoming AoT aims to rectify by leveraging algorithmic examples for enhanced reliability.

Drawing Inspiration from Both Realms – AoT is inspired by a fusion of human and machine attributes, seeking to enhance the performance of generative AI models. While human cognition excels in intuitive thinking, algorithms are renowned for their methodical, exhaustive exploration of possibilities. Microsoft’s research paper articulates AoT’s mission as seeking to “fuse these dual facets to augment reasoning capabilities within Large Language Models (LLMs).”

Enhancing Cognitive Capacity

This hybrid approach empowers the model to transcend human working memory constraints, facilitating a more comprehensive analysis of ideas. In contrast to the linear reasoning employed by CoT or the Tree of Thoughts (ToT) technique, AoT introduces flexibility by allowing for the contemplation of diverse options for sub-problems. It maintains its effectiveness with minimal prompts and competes favorably with external tree-search tools, achieving a delicate balance between computational costs and efficiency.

A Paradigm Shift in AI Reasoning

AoT marks a notable shift away from traditional supervised learning by integrating the search process itself. With ongoing advancements in prompt engineering, researchers anticipate that this approach can empower models to efficiently tackle complex real-world problems while also contributing to a reduction in their carbon footprint.

 

Read more –> NOOR, the new largest NLP Arabic language model

 

Microsoft’s Strategic Position

Given Microsoft’s substantial investments in the realm of AI, the integration of AoT into advanced systems such as GPT-4 seems well within reach. While the endeavor of teaching language models to emulate human thought processes remains challenging, the potential for transformation in AI capabilities is undeniably significant.

Wrapping up

In summary, AoT presents a wide range of potential applications. Its capacity to transform the approach of Large Language Models (LLMs) to reasoning spans diverse domains, ranging from conventional problem-solving to tackling complex programming challenges. By incorporating algorithmic pathways, LLMs can now consider multiple solution avenues, utilize model backtracking methods, and evaluate the feasibility of various subproblems. In doing so, AoT introduces a novel paradigm in in-context learning, effectively bridging the gap between LLMs and algorithmic thought processes.

 

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September 5, 2023

The rise of AI-based technologies has led to increased interest in individualized text generation. Generative systems that can produce personalized responses that take into account factors such as the audience, creation context, and information needs are in high demand.

Google AI's text generation
Google AI’s text generation

Understanding individualized text generation

Researchers have investigated the creation of customized text in a variety of settings, including reviews, chatbots, and social media. However, most existing work has focused on task-specific models that rely on domain-specific features or information. There is less attention on how to create a generic approach that can be used in any situation.

In the past, text generation was a relatively straightforward task. If you wanted to create a document, you would simply type it out from scratch. However, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), text generation is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Individualized text generation

One of the most promising areas of AI research is individualized text generation. This is the task of generating text that is tailored to a specific individual or context. For example, an individualized email would be one that is specifically tailored to the recipient’s interests and preferences.

Challenges:  There are a number of challenges associated with individualized text generation. One challenge is that it requires a large amount of data. In order to generate text that is tailored to a specific individual, the AI model needs to have a good understanding of that individual’s interests, preferences, and writing style.

Methods to improve individualized text generation

There are a number of methods that can be used to improve individualized text generation. One method is to train the AI model on a dataset of text that is specific to the individual or context. For example, if you want to generate personalized emails, you could train the AI model on a dataset of emails that have been sent and received by the individual.

Another method to improve individualized text generation is to use auxiliary tasks. Auxiliary tasks are additional tasks that are given to the AI model in addition to the main task of generating text. These tasks can help the AI model learn about the individual or context, which can then be used to improve the quality of the generated text.

LLMs for individualized text generation

Large Language Models (LLMs), although powerful, are typically trained on broad and general-purpose text data. This presents a unique set of hurdles to overcome. In this exploration, we delve into strategies to augment LLMs’ capacity for generating highly individualized text.

Training on specific data

One effective approach involves fine-tuning LLMs using data that is specific to the individual or context. Consider the scenario of crafting personalized emails. Here, the LLM can be fine-tuned using a dataset comprised of emails exchanged by the target individual. This tailored training equips the model with a deeper understanding of the individual’s language, tone, and preferences.

 

Large language model bootcamp

 

Harnessing auxiliary tasks

Another potent technique in our arsenal is the use of auxiliary tasks. These tasks complement the primary text generation objective and offer invaluable insights into the individual or context. By incorporating such auxiliary challenges, LLMs can significantly elevate the quality of their generated content.

Example: Author Identification: For instance, let’s take the case of an LLM tasked with generating personalized emails. An auxiliary task might involve identifying the author of an email from a given dataset. This seemingly minor task holds the key to a richer understanding of the individual’s unique writing style.

Google’s approach to individualized text generation

Recent research from Google proposes a generic approach to producing unique content by drawing on extensive linguistic resources. Their study is inspired by a common method of writing instruction that breaks down the writing process with external sources into smaller steps: research, source evaluation, summary, synthesis, and integration.

 

Component

 

Description
Retrieval The process of retrieving relevant information from a secondary repository of personal contexts, such as previous documents the user has written.
Ranking The process of ranking the retrieved information for relevance and importance.
Summarization The process of summarizing the ranked information into key elements.
Synthesis The process of combining the key elements into a new document.
Generation The process of generating the new document using an LLM.

The Multi-Stage – Multi-Task Framework

To train LLMs for individualized text production, the Google team takes a similar approach, adopting a multistage multitask structure that includes retrieval, ranking, summarization, synthesis, and generation. Specifically, they use the title and first line of the current document to create a question and retrieve relevant information from a secondary repository of personal contexts, such as previous documents the user has written.

They then summarize the ranked results after ranking them for relevance and importance. In addition to retrieval and summarization, they synthesize the retrieved information into key elements, which are then fed into the LLM to generate the new document.

Improving the reading abilities of LLMs

It is a common observation in the field of language teaching that reading and writing skills develop hand in hand. Additionally, research shows that individual reading level and amount can be measured through author recognition activities, which correlate with reading proficiency.

These two findings led the Google researchers to create a multitasking environment where they added an auxiliary task asking the LLM to identify the authorship of a particular text to improve its reading abilities. They believe that by giving the model this challenge, it will be able to interpret the provided text more accurately and produce more compelling and tailored writing.

Evaluation of the proposed models

The Google team used three publicly available datasets consisting of email correspondence, social media debates, and product reviews to evaluate the performance of the proposed models. The multi-stage, multi-task framework showed significant improvements over several baselines across all three datasets.

Conclusion

The Google research team’s work presents a promising approach to individualized text generation with LLMs. The multi-stage, multi-task framework is able to effectively incorporate personal contexts and improve the reading abilities of LLMs, leading to more accurate and compelling text generation.

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September 4, 2023

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