Designing Large Language Model Applications

Chapter 1. Introduction

AI is no longer the realm of science fiction novels and dystopian Hollywood movies. It is fast becoming an integral part of people’s lives. Most of us interact with AI on a daily basis, often without even realizing it.

Current progress in AI has to a large extent been driven by advances in language modeling. Large language models (LLMs) represent one of the most significant technological advances in recent times, marking a new epoch in the world of tech. Similar inflection points in the past include the advent of the computer that ushered in the digital revolution, the birth of the internet and the World Wide Web that laid the foundation for a hyperconnected world, and the emergence of the smartphone that reshaped human communication. The ongoing AI revolution is poised to make a similar transformative impact.

LLMs belong to a class of models referred to as generative AI. The distinguishing factor is the ability of these models to generate responses to user queries, called prompts. Generative AI encompasses models that generate images, videos, speech, music, and of course text. While there is an increasing focus on bringing all these modalities together into a single model, in this book we will stick to language and LLMs.

In this chapter, we will introduce language models and define what makes a language model large. We will provide a brief history of LLMs, contextualizing their place within the field of natural language processing (NLP) and their evolution. ...