“Conversations with Machines”
Abstract: Contemporary chatbots are remarkably adept at using language, reliably passing as human in short conversations, even outscoring most humans at tests of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and reasoning. However, they still show some strange deficits. One particularly interesting weakness lies in the way they use simple epistemic verbs such as ‘know’ and ‘believe’, where they produce some odd patterns similar to those seen in the speech of three-year-old children. These patterns point to some deep differences between the ways humans and large language models learn in the course of conversation. Humans seek common ground with each other; chatbots can mimic this behavior to some extent, but they are doing something fundamentally different (at least for now).
The event is open to all, and the talk will be followed by an open discussion. The event takes place i auditorium A at University of Inland Norway at Lillehammer.
Related links
Overview: The Lillehammer Lecture in Philosophy
inn.no, October 2025: New Lillehammer Lecture in Philosophy