OpenAI's new LLM exposes the secrets of how AI really works

The experimental model won't compete with the biggest and best, but it could tell us why they behave in weird ways--and how trustworthy they really are. ChatGPT maker OpenAI has built an experimental large language model that is far easier to understand than typical models. That's a big deal, because today's LLMs are black boxes: Nobody fully understands how they do what they do. Building a model that is more transparent sheds light on how LLMs work in general, helping researchers figure out why models hallucinate, why they go off the rails, and just how far we should trust them with critical tasks. "As these AI systems get more powerful, they're going to get integrated more and more into very important domains," Leo Gao, a research scientist at OpenAI, told in an exclusive preview of the new work. "It's very important to make sure they're safe."