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Next-Token Predictor Is An AI's Job, Not Its Species

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Next-Token Predictor Is An AI's Job, Not Its Species ... Scott Alexander Feb 26, 2026 426 433 36 Share I. In The Argument , Kelsey Piper gives a good description of the ways that AIs are more than just “next-token predictors” or “stochastic parrots” - for example, they also use fine-tuning and RLHF. But commenters, while appreciating the subtleties she introduces, object that they’re still just extra layers on top of a machine that basically runs on next-token prediction. I want to approach this from a different direction. I think overemphasizing next-token prediction is a confusion of levels.

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