GPT 4 Features - Peeking into AI's brains

OpenAI is sharing new research to help us better understand these complex models. They've found a way to break down GPT-4's inner workings into millions of interpretable patterns, like identifying individual instruments in an orchestra.

What is going on here?

OpenAI is making progress on "feature extraction," a way to break down the inner workings of large language models like GPT-4 into understandable chunks.

What does this mean?

Understanding how AI models think is a tough nut to crack. It's like trying to figure out why your cat likes that one weird toy - you know it happens, but the why is a mystery. This is especially true for complex models like GPT-4.

Imagine translating the jumbled mess of electrical signals in your brain into understandable thoughts. OpenAI's new method, using something called "sparse autoencoders," does something similar for AI models. It identifies key patterns, or "features," in the model's activity that seem to line up with human-interpretable concepts like "price increases" or "algebraic rings."

The real kicker is the scalability of this approach. OpenAI's method has shown promise in handling models at various scales: smaller ones like GPT-2 small and bigger models like GPT-4 too, potentially paving the way for even deeper insights into the inner workings of tomorrow's AI giants.

Why should I care?

This is a big deal for a couple of reasons. First, it means we're getting closer to understanding how AI models make decisions. This is crucial if we want to trust them with important tasks. Second, it opens up the possibility of fine-tuning these models more effectively. If we know what features are responsible for certain behaviours, we can tweak them to improve performance.