Emerging trends: Smooth-talking machines

Kenneth Ward Church, Richard Yue

Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have achieved amazing successes. They have done well on standardized tests in medicine and the law. That said, the bar has been raised so high that it could take decades to make good on expectations. To buy time for this long-term research program, the field needs to identify some good short-term applications for smooth-talking machines that are more fluent than trustworthy.