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AI chatbot models ‘think’ in English even when using other languages

When answering questions posed in Chinese, French, German or Russian, large language models seem to process the queries in English, which could create cultural issues

By Chris Stokel-Walker

8 March 2024

Programming code

You can ask an AI a question in various languages, but it might still access the same English-related processes before responding

monsitj/iStockphoto/Getty Images

The artificially intelligent large language models (LLMs) behind chatbots may “think” in English, even if asked questions in other languages. This is because their training data is biased, encoding concepts more common in English language cultures.

LLMs have become popular since the November 2022 release of ChatGPT, and many can answer questions put to them in…

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