alt Hacker News> I love that we're still learning the emergent properties of LLMs!
TBH, this is (very much my opinion btw) the least surprising thing. LLMs (and especially their emergent properties) are still black boxes. Humans have been studying the human brain for millenia, and we are barely better at predicting how humans work (or for eg to what extent free will is a thing). Hell, emergent properties of traffic was not understood or properly given attention to, even when a researcher, as a driver, knows what a driver does. Right now, on the front page, is this post:
> 14. Claude Code Found a Linux Vulnerability Hidden for 23 Years (mtlynch.io)
So it's pretty cool we're learning new things about LLMs, sure, but it's barely surprising that we're still learning it.
(Sorry, mini grumpy man rant over. I just wish we knew more of the world but I know that's not realistic.)
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I'm a psychiatry resident who finds LLM research fascinating because of how strongly it reminds me of our efforts to understand the human brain/mind.
I dare say that in some ways, we understand LLMs better than humans, or at least the interpretability tools are now superior. Awkward place to be, but an interesting one.
Learning about the emergent properties of these black boxes is not surprising, but it's also not daily. I think every new insight is worth celebrating.
Studies of LLMs belong in their own field of science, just like psychology is not being studied in the physics department.
To say we've been studying the brain for millennia is an extreme exaggeration. Modern neuroscience is only about 50 years old.
I thought it was determined (slight pun) that free will is not a thing. I'm referring to Sapolsky's book "Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will)" as an example.