1 Generative AI: Why large language models have captured attention
This chapter covers
- What large language models are and what they can and cannot do
- When you should and should not deploy your own large language models
- Large language model myths and the truths that lie behind them
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The year is 1450. A sleepy corner of Mainz, Germany, unknowingly stands on the precipice of a monumental era. In Humbrechthof, a nondescript workshop shrouded in the town’s shadows pulsates with anticipation. It is here that Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith and innovator, sweats and labors amidst the scents of oil, metal, and determination, silently birthing a revolution. In the late hours of the night, the peace is broken intermittently by the rhythmic hammering of metal on metal. In the lamp-lit heart of the workshop stands Gutenberg’s decade-long labor of love—a contraption unparalleled in design and purpose.