[HN Gopher] Two kinds of LLM responses: Informational vs. Instru...
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       Two kinds of LLM responses: Informational vs. Instructional
        
       Author : shabie
       Score  : 60 points
       Date   : 2024-09-23 23:02 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (shabie.github.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (shabie.github.io)
        
       | bbor wrote:
       | Well put! If you/y'all haven't heard, there's a popular breakdown
       | of "technical documentation" into four types, and this is one of
       | the axes: https://nick.groenen.me/posts/the-4-types-of-technical-
       | docum...
       | 
       | People's names for the four types vary, but I'm personally a fan
       | of naming the axes "propositional vs procedural" and
       | "informational vs developmental", giving us a final four
       | categories (00, 01, 10, 11) of "References", "Instructions",
       | "Lessons", and "Tutorials". I think the applicability to LLM
       | clearly holds up! Though more so for advanced chatbots than HR
       | widgets TBF, I doubt anyone is looking for developmental content
       | from one of those.
        
         | shabie wrote:
         | Thanks a lot for sharing, I have not heard of this before.
        
       | niobe wrote:
       | Well put, and separating these would be a good use case for
       | system prompts e.g.
       | 
       | llm -m model --save instructional --system "provide the detailed
       | steps to achieve the outcome, using a suitable example if
       | necessary"
       | 
       | llm -m model --save informational --system "provide a concise
       | conceptual overview but do not provide implementation steps or
       | detailed examples"
        
         | shabie wrote:
         | That's actually a pretty interesting point. Not just evals but
         | other components like system prompt should also be tailored to
         | match the expected outcome.
        
       | js8 wrote:
       | I wish there also was a distinction between truthful and
       | whimsical.
        
       | fuzzy_biscuit wrote:
       | When I was doing SEO full-time, this is one of the ways we used
       | to categorize content - via intent. As a result, my immediate
       | question becomes: how long before those responses start to be
       | subsumed by commercial intent responses? To me, this is an
       | inevitability. A when, not an if.
        
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       (page generated 2024-09-27 23:02 UTC)