The most important misunderstanding around Large Language Models (LLMs) can vary depending on the context and the audience, but one strong candidate is anthropomorphism. This is the tendency to attribute human-like characteristics, intentions, and consciousness to LLMs, which fundamentally distorts how people understand their capabilities and limitations.
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Nature of Outputs: People often interpret coherent and contextually appropriate responses as evidence of understanding or intentionality, whereas LLMs generate text based on patterns learned from the data without any genuine comprehension or awareness.
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Expectations of Performance: Assuming human-like reasoning can lead users to overestimate the reliability and consistency of LLMs. While they can produce impressively accurate responses in many cases, their performance is highly variable and context-dependent.