Summary of Belief in the Machine: Investigating Epistemological Blind Spots Of Language Models, by Mirac Suzgun et al.
Belief in the Machine: Investigating Epistemological Blind Spots of Language Models
by Mirac Suzgun, Tayfun Gur, Federico Bianchi, Daniel E. Ho, Thomas Icard, Dan Jurafsky, James Zou
First submitted to arxiv on: 28 Oct 2024
Categories
- Main: Computation and Language (cs.CL)
- Secondary: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Computers and Society (cs.CY)
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| Summary difficulty | Written by | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| High | Paper authors | High Difficulty Summary Read the original abstract here |
| Medium | GrooveSquid.com (original content) | Medium Difficulty Summary A novel study systematically evaluates the epistemic reasoning capabilities of modern language models (LMs), including GPT-4, Claude-3, and Llama-3, using a new dataset, KaBLE. The research reveals key limitations in LMs’ ability to differentiate between fact, belief, and knowledge, with implications for reliable decision-making in fields like healthcare, law, and journalism. Specifically, the study shows that while LMs achieve high accuracy on factual scenarios (86%), their performance drops significantly with false scenarios, particularly in belief-related tasks. Furthermore, LMs struggle with recognizing and affirming personal beliefs, especially when those beliefs contradict factual data. The findings highlight concerns about current LMs’ ability to reason about truth, belief, and knowledge, emphasizing the need for advancements in these areas before broad deployment in critical sectors. |
| Low | GrooveSquid.com (original content) | Low Difficulty Summary This study looks at how well language models can tell fact from opinion or personal belief. Researchers used a new dataset with 13,000 questions across 13 tasks to test modern LMs like GPT-4 and Claude-3. They found that while LMs are good at answering factual questions (86%), they get worse when the question is about someone’s beliefs. This matters because language models might be used in important areas like healthcare or journalism, where understanding people’s beliefs is crucial. |
Keywords
» Artificial intelligence » Claude » Gpt » Llama
