What's the difference between AI and a random generator?

[tomBitonti]

Also worth noting: The discussion re: "random" vs "deterministic", while entertaining and philosophically interesting (I guess, to some), is probably a diversionary rabbit hole that is not relevant to the question.

In some terminologies, "random" can be "deterministic". See for example:

Normal number - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Mathematical definition of deterministic and non-deterministic random bit generators

Can anyone give the mathematical definition of deterministic and non-deterministic random bit generator? Providing a reference will also be very helpful.

crypto.stackexchange.com

TomB

 

[FrogReaver]

The issue with determinism in "useful" GenAI is their training sets are enormous, they have billions of parameters, most use floating point math, and then of course tunable parameters like seeds and temperature. The total search space of those various factors is too large to practically search for deterministic paths even though it's technically possible.

I dislike the "black box" terminology because it suggests the determinism is technically unknowable as if the code is performing something supernatural. It's just code. It's not magic.

I get your concern about black box terminology - especially when it comes to non-computer programming people, but when we are concerned about the behavior of the output from the RAW data where the raw data and number of parameters is too large to deal with on a practical level outside of AI then explaining why a particular output was produced is a kind of black box. Its not enough to say we know high level what’s happening, the nitty gritty details are needed and without them the behavior isn’t clear.

 

[tomBitonti]

Is there a term for jargon which is being used by an industry and which is recent, specific to the industry, and on the edge of being technical and being buzz words?

For example:

White Box vs. Black Box Algorithms in Machine Learning

Learn which Machine Learning model is best for your use case: opaque Black Box models or transparent White Box models.

www.activestate.com

This shows that "white box" and "black box" have specific meanings to the industry. However, the usage is (to me) on the edge of being industry specific while also being almost (if not actual) buzz words. The whole industry is transitioning from being "vaporware" to being more concrete and actually useful (perhaps -- time will tell). I hesitate to lean too heavily on either term in this context.

TomB

 

[Ornat1994]

I'm not trying to be awkward I promise. I'm just trying to understand the technology.

We've all used random generators for years. Some random generators are totally random, others use inputs or some logic to construct their results. Some aren't even all that random!

If we ask an AI to write an NPC description or we ask a random generator to write one, other than the AI probably being better at it, what's the difference in process? What is the AI doing that a random (or non-random) generator isn't?

Is it just the data scraping part? If the AI did the same thing but didn't scrape data except for whatever data set the designer gave it is it then doing the same thing? Or is it fundamentally different? Or should we be looking askance at random generators too? There are generators which make maps and dungeons--is that similar to AI art generators, except for the scraping part?

I guess I'm asking is AI just a big fancy (semi-random) generator but with added data scraping?

Absolutely! AI brings random generation to a whole new level. Unlike traditional generators, AI analyzes vast datasets, learning patterns to produce more nuanced and contextually relevant content. Personally, I find AI-generated content to be more tailored and diverse, especially for tasks like NPC descriptions or map generation. When it comes to top-notch essays, I prefer using https://essays.edubirdie.com/write-my-essay because it's the best write my essay service out there. It provides quality content tailored to your specific needs, ensuring you get exactly what you're looking for. So, while traditional generators have their place, AI brings a whole new level of sophistication!

 

[Starfox]

Where an AI may be worse than a random generator is in compliance to rules. AIs are good at approximations, but bad at producing exact numbers. So if you ask an AI to sta a monster, it will pull numbers out of thin air to produce something that resembles what people say when they talk about this type of monster, including Type, CR, attacks and so on. This works pretty well with 5Es freeform monster generation. It works much less well in a more bounded system like the point-buy in Champions.

 

[timbannock]

Where an AI may be worse than a random generator is in compliance to rules. AIs are good at approximations, but bad at producing exact numbers. So if you ask an AI to sta a monster, it will pull numbers out of thin air to produce something that resembles what people say when they talk about this type of monster, including Type, CR, attacks and so on. This works pretty well with 5Es freeform monster generation. It works much less well in a more bounded system like the point-buy in Champions.

This is a very important point. I've used ChatGPT for some game prep and it cannot consistently follow the rules of games it has access to, even with further definition from me over many prompts and exercises. By trying to pull from so many different sources -- many of which are pretty good sources, btw -- AI utterly fails at the "art" of building stats, and often (but not all the time) fails even at the "science" portion of it.

Applicable to random generators, as far as just generating content, it's pretty okay, but often repetitive. So if you're just looking for content like lists of stuff, or specific attributes/traits (in the non-mechanical sense, such as adjectives, personality, backstory, appearance, sensory info) of a person or place it'll probably serve you well, and can even come up with components of story material. But it'll repeat info, or repeat like info: if you ask for a list of names, it'll often give you names with very similar constructions, such as every D&D NPC name ending with the famous "two words mashed together" construction like Lightborn, Hammerforge, Mistshroud, and stuff like that. Over and over, ad nauseum. And often even after you ask it not to do that.

They'll get better at that part, which is nice. However, they'll still fail miserably at the moral (and perhaps ethical) side of things for a while longer, so I think purpose built random generators are still much, much better on so many levels for the topic of RPGs that you might as well just stick with those, when in doubt.