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An LLM is a lossy encyclopedia

(simonwillison.net)
509 points tosh | 2 comments | 29 Aug 25 09:40 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

(the referenced HN thread starts at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45060519)
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geye1234 ◴[02 Sep 25 15:01 UTC] No.45104003[source]▶
Please, everybody, preserve your records. Preserve your books, preserve your downloaded files (that can't be tampered with), keep everything. AI is going to make it harder and harder to find out the truth about anything over the next few years.

You have a moral duty to keep your books, and keep your locally-stored information.

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1. Taylor_OD ◴[02 Sep 25 15:50 UTC] No.45104696[source]▶
I get very annoyed when llms respond with quotes around certain things I ask for, then when I say what is the source of that quote? they say oh I was paraphrasing and that isnt a real quote.

At least wikipedia has sources that probably support what it says and normally the quotes are real quotes. LLMs just seem to add quotation marks as, "proof" that its confident something is correct.

replies(1): >>45107269 #
2. mind_heist ◴[02 Sep 25 18:40 UTC] No.45107269[source]▶
do you have examples of these ?