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Can we trust LLM CALCULATIONS?. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Ok, you have a moderately complex math problem you needed to solve. You gave the problem to 6 LLMS all paid versions. All 6 get the same numbers. Would you trust the answer?

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[–] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

LLMs don't and can't do math. They don't calculate anything, that's just not how they work. Instead, they do this:

2 + 2 = ? What comes after that? Oh, I remember! It's '4'!

It could be right, it could be wrong. If there's enough pattern in the training data, it could remember the correct answer. Otherwise it'll just place a plausible looking value there (behavior known as AI hallucination). So, you can not "trust" it.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    A good one will interpret what you are asking and then write code, often python I notice, and then let that do the math and return the answer. A math problem should use a math engine and that's how it gets around it.

    But really why bother, go ask wolfram alpha or just write the math problem in code yourself.

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