Large Language Model-Based Solutions

1Introduction

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Overview of GenAI Applications and Large Language Models
• Paths to Productionizing GenAI Applications
• The Importance of Cost Optimization

OVERVIEW OF GenAI APPLICATIONS AND LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS

In this section, we introduce GenAI applications and large language models.

The Rise of Large Language Models

Large language models (LLMs) have become a cornerstone of artificial intelligence (AI) research and applications, transforming the way we interact with technology and enabling breakthroughs in natural language processing (NLP). These models have evolved rapidly, with their origins dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, when researchers at IBM and Georgetown University developed a system to automatically translate a collection of phrases from Russian to English. The early pioneers were optimistic that human‐level intelligence would soon be within reach. However, building thinking machines akin to the human mind proved more challenging than anticipated. In the initial decades, research in AI was focused on symbolic reasoning and logic‐based systems. But these early AI systems were quite brittle and limited in their capabilities. They struggled with commonsense knowledge and making inferences in the real world.

By the 1980s, AI researchers realized that rule‐based programming alone could not replicate the versatility and robustness of human intelligence. This led to the emergence of machine learning techniques, where algorithms are trained ...