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Summary

The government of Iceland is partnering with OpenAI to use GPT-4 in the preservation effort of the Icelandic language. To do this, a team of 40 volunteers are using a process called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback to train GPT-4 on proper Icelandic grammar and cultural knowledge. This process produces results with only 100 examples, making it more feasible for other low-resource languages to replicate the process. Through this process, the Icelandic language will be able to survive in a digital age, as Icelandic companies will be able to use GPT-4 in their interactive applications and voice assistant apps in fluent Icelandic.

Q&As

What initiatives is the Icelandic government taking to preserve its native language?
The Icelandic government is maintaining a Language Planning Department that coins Icelandic terms for new ideas, rather than adopting so-called “loanwords” from other languages. They have also partnered with OpenAI to use GPT-4 in the preservation effort of the Icelandic language.

How does OpenAI's GPT-4 model help in the preservation of Icelandic?
GPT-4 can be trained on vast quantities of text on the internet, which can help to preserve the language. It can also generate a poem about the vagaries of modern life in the style of Voluspa, an ancient Icelandic poem from the Poetic Edda of Norse mythology.

How is Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) used to train GPT-4 on Icelandic grammar and cultural knowledge?
Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) is used to train GPT-4 on Icelandic grammar and cultural knowledge. Human testers give GPT-4 a prompt, and four possible completions are generated. Testers then select the best answer from the four responses and edit it to create an ideal completion. The data from this process is then used to further train GPT-4 to produce better responses in the future.

What challenges exist in using GPT-4 to generate accurate Icelandic translations?
GPT-4 does not consistently produce clear and correct Icelandic translations. It produces Icelandic with grammatical errors, “translationese”, and incorrect cultural knowledge.

What applications can Icelandic companies use GPT-4 for?
Icelandic companies can use GPT-4 for applications such as voice assistants, chatbots, and translations.

AI Comments

👍 This article is a great example of how AI can be used to help preserve language and cultural heritage. It's inspiring to see the Icelandic government and private industry partnering with OpenAI to use GPT-4 in the preservation effort of the Icelandic language.

👎 The article paints a rosy picture of the effects of using AI to preserve language, but fails to acknowledge the potential drawbacks. It also glosses over the fact that AI models are far from perfect and can still give incorrect translations.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about how the government of Iceland is using GPT-4 to preserve its language.

Friend: Interesting. What are the implications of this?

Me: Well, it shows that GPT-4 can be used to help preserve languages, which is really important for keeping cultural heritage alive. It also shows that with the right training, GPT-4 can be used to generate accurate translations of low-resource languages, which could help bridge the 'AI divide' between languages with lots of digital data available and those without. Finally, it suggests that GPT-4 could be used to power voice assistant apps and chatbots in languages other than English, which would be a huge benefit to businesses in those countries.

Action items

Research other low-resource languages and explore how GPT-4 could be used to preserve them.
Develop a plan to use GPT-4 to create resources that could promote the preservation of other low-resource languages.
Create a chatbot in a low-resource language to demonstrate the capabilities of GPT-4.

Technical terms

Mobile Navigation: A feature of a website or app that allows users to quickly navigate to different sections of the site or app.
GPT-4: A natural language processing model developed by OpenAI. It is a large-scale transformer-based language model that can generate human-like text.
RLHF: Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, a process in which human testers give GPT-4 a prompt, and four possible completions are generated. Testers then select the best answer from the four responses and edit it to create an ideal completion.
Embla: Miðeind’s voice assistant app, which will be able to have conversations with users in fluent Icelandic, as well as offering translations to other languages.