I forgot to answer the ethics question! Common concerns with the way these models work include plagiarism of copyrighted text/art, a tendency to amplify biases and discrimination, and lack of privacy over data used to train the AI. They also guzzle energy, so there are environmental impacts, too.

My understanding is that these LLMs like ChatGPT work by predicting what the next word in a sequence should be based on what a plausible/grammatical answer to the prompt should look like. They have no way of evaluating what’s true or false.

Not an expert, but an interested bystander.

This paper from a few years ago on the probabilistic nature of large language models is a good read. dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

I’ll be on a panel in the Innovation Lounge (5th floor) at 10:30, and selling and signing copies of Why We Love Middle-earth all day in the Author Hall in the Special Events Center (1st floor). Hope to see you there!

Looking forward to seeing you there, Mr. Underhill!

That sounds right. Wow. 😬

That takes me back! That’s one of my favorite episodes of the PPP. Hope you enjoyed it!

Mine came in just a few days ago! A surprise gift from the Lady of the Mark. ❤️🗡️

Wow. Talk about getting the wrong message from a book. Interesting write up on the company here. futurism.com/the-byte/sau...

This is the word we’ve been looking for!

So glad to hear that! I’ll make sure to pass it on to Alan and the rest of the team. Thanks!

I heard about this!

I feel this. I’ve only ever seen the complete Ring on video (Met production from the 1980s) and I know Wagner was horrible, but I do love that opera cycle. It’s one of my go-tos when writing.

Thanks for the welcome! It’s good to be here.

And to anyone reading this, if you aren’t yet following @tolkiensociety.org to keep up with events like this, you should. Join us! #Tolkien

It truly was! My favorite thing about this event has been getting to hear about the presenters’ personal experiences with Christopher: getting a glimpse of the person behind the words. It’s been enchanting.

@drhannahmcd.bsky.social Thank you for all your hard work to make this happen!