Abstract:

Hallucination has been widely recognized to be a significant drawback for large language models (LLMs). There have been many works that attempt to reduce the extent of hallucination. These efforts have mostly been empirical so far, which cannot answer the fundamental question whether it can be completely eliminated. In this paper, we formalize the problem and show that it is impossible to eliminate hallucination in LLMs. Specifically, we define a formal world where hallucina- tion is defined as inconsistencies between a computable LLM and a computable ground truth function. By employing results from learning theory, we show that LLMs cannot learn all of the computable functions and will therefore always hal- lucinate. Since the formal world is a part of the real world which is much more complicated, hallucinations are also inevitable for real world LLMs. Furthermore, for real world LLMs constrained by provable time complexity, we describe the hallucination-prone tasks and empirically validate our claims. Finally, using the formal world framework, we discuss the possible mechanisms and efficacies of existing hallucination mitigators as well as the practical implications on the safe deployment of LLMs.

this could not be timed worse for Tumblr which is in huge hot water with its userbase already for its CEO breaking his sabbatical to ban a prominent trans user for allegedly threatening him (in a cartoonish manner), and then spending a week personally justifying it increasingly wildly across several platforms. the rumors had already been swirling that this would occur, but this just cements that they were correct

archive.is link

The [tunnel's] accelerants cure the grout that seals the tunnel’s concrete supports, helping the grout set properly and protecting the work against cracks and other deterioration. They also seriously burn exposed human skin. At the Encore dig site, such burns became almost routine, workers there told Nevada’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An investigation by the state OSHA, which Bloomberg Businessweek has obtained via a freedom of information request, describes workers being scarred permanently on their arms and legs. According to the investigation, at least one employee took a direct hit to the face. In an interview with Businessweek, one of the tunnel workers recalls the feeling of exposure to the chemicals: “You’d be like, ‘Why am I on fire?’”

If I do a factory reset on my phone that has GrapheneOS on it, will that revert it to the stock android that it originally came with or to a "fresh" clean, brand new GrapheneOS? I found conflicting information about this online . . . 🤔

"We just gave the Fairphone 4 a revolutionary update, with a completely refreshed camera experience, and we couldn’t be prouder."

The Fairphone 4 was released in summer 2021 and has been superseded by the Fairphone 5, but this major update addresses one of the biggest complaints about the device since day one -- the camera.

Apple Is Trying to Kill the Open Internet!

https://youtu.be/up-zUEFNMww

@technology

That graphic sums up my entire educational experience. https://archive.is/hvZ5q

This is one of the more scathing pieces to come out on Ars about Reddit. As the site did not respond to inquiries, all that was available to report on was profoundly negative statements that Advance is unlikely to enjoy seeing.

Cryptocurrencies are often understood to enable private payments, but most don't. Monero does, but its value still fluctuates and wastes energy (even if far less than Bitcoin) in time of the climate catastrophe.
GNU Taler is a (free software) system which enables anonymity for the buyer but not for the merchant, enabling taxability. In effect it's digital cash you can even use offline without having an internet connection at payment time. It is not a new (crypto-) currency.
The linked news article reveals an EU project which will implement GNU Taler for two European banks (located in Germany and Hungary) in the next 36 months. I assume the reason the EU supports Taler is the Digital Euro (archive.org snapshot).

I used a sentence from the article as the title since I felt it represented the actual issue better, let me know if I should change it.

Essentially, Snap Store has basically no restrictions on publishing new applications, allowing for scammers to impersonate legitimate applications. In this case (and several times in the past) the target was a cryptocurrency wallet, resulting in ~$490,000 worth of bitcoin being stolen.

The "Safe" rating reminds me of this xkcd:

(For comparison, it seems being proprietary is an automatic unsafe rating for any application, which could be considered too extreme in the other direction.)

Britain's National Crime Agency Cyber Division, with the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies seized control of websites used by Lockbit the gang and U.S. and British authorities said. The agencies also took the extraordinary step of using Lockbit's own website to release internal data about the group itself.

“We have hacked the hackers," Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, told journalists. "We have taken control of their infrastructure, seized their source code and obtained keys that will help victims decrypt their systems.”

The takedown, dubbed “Operation Cronos” was an international coalition of 10 countries, he said. “Together, we have arrested, indicted or sanctioned some of the perpetrators and we have gained unprecedented and comprehensive access to Lockbit’s systems”.

New plasma stealth device targets specific areas, not entire aircraft.

According to a recent report from the South China Morning Post, Chinese scientists and engineers claim to have developed a plasma stealth device for military aircraft that is capable of rendering nearly any such aircraft undetectable by radar.

I use Beyond Compare to sync files from my laptop to my NAS which is a QNAP (my laptop is Linux Mint). It is incredibly slow, to the point that it is driving me crazy. Admittedly, I have lots of large files on my laptop that I move around frequently, so that may just be how it is. I do have my laptop setup to sync to my phone with Syncthing, and it seems like my phone is always up-to-date and in sync with my laptop. But of course it is syncing in, I guess, "real time" as opposed to a Beyond Compare backup which does everything only when I tell it to when lots of changes have already been made at the end of the day. Is it possible to install Syncthing on QNAP? Perhaps that would make things a bit faster, although I've always had a hell of a time trying to install something that isn't a proprietary app from their store. Anyway, any suggestions are welcome.

EDIT: Plugging into ethernet instead of syncing over wi-fi helps speed things up a bit, but not as much as I would like.

February 17, 2024 marks the entry into force of a landmark piece of European Union (EU) legislation, affecting European users who create and disseminate online content as well as tech companies who act as “intermediaries” on the Internet.