Title: Exploring figurative language to improve public understanding of LLM-based systems
Abstract: The interdisciplinary pilot project `Exploring novel figurative language to conceptualise Large Language Models’ is funded by Cambridge Language Sciences. We are interested in developing new metaphors and analogies to improve public understanding of LLM-based systems and also in helping specialists come up with more appropriate metaphors. In this talk, I will briefly discuss some examples of metaphors and analogies and their advantages and disadvantages. I will touch on the reasons to avoid anthropomorphism in general but ask whether some types of anthopomorphism are potentially useful. This will be a very informal talk - I hope to leave plenty of time for discussion. I am especially keen to hear about metaphors and analogies that people have found particularly helpful or unhelpful.
Bio: Ann Copestake is Professor of Computational Linguistics at the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge. Her research has involved developing computer models of human languages, especially models of semantics at the word and sentence level. After a number of years focussing on academic administration, she has recently returned to research and this talk concerns one of her current projects.