Large language models (LLMs) have significantly transformed artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years, shaping how we interact with technology and process language. But where did they start, how have they evolved, and what does the future hold for them? In this article, I’ll dive into the history, development, and future of LLMs, providing a broad perspective on their impact and progression.
In the early days of AI, language processing was based on rules. This meant that programmers had to manually input a vast array of specific rules that machines would follow to understand and respond to human language. While these systems worked in narrow fields, they couldn’t handle the complexity of natural language, which is full of nuances and ambiguities.
By the late 1980s and 1990s, statistical models started to emerge. Instead of relying on fixed rules, these models learned from large datasets of text, using statistical methods to predict word sequences. However, even these approaches were limited in their ability to grasp the true meaning of words in context, often struggling with more advanced linguistic challenges.