Personal Glossary
Sometimes words need to be defined and you just can’t wait for Webster’s.
- Potemkin Comprehension — A failure mode of LLMs that reveals the illusion of comprehension. While many LLMs can score high on tests designed for humans, doing so doesn't indicate that an LLM "understands" the concepts being tested in the same way that it might for the actual humans the test was designed for. This gap between the high scores on tests and LLMs inability to comprehend is called Potemkin Comprehensin (or sometimes Potemkin Understanding). This is an allusion to Potemkin Villages, a phrase whose history I didn't fully appreciate until I read the wikipedia page while making this entry.
- Scrib—A writing utensil. Pen, pencil, doesn't matter. Coined around 2001 in a fit of frustration. Why wasn't there a single syllable word that just meant "writing implement?"
Last updated: Aug 17th, 2025 🕐