Generative AI and Non-Determinism

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein We often hear that generative AI is non-deterministic because it responds differently each time to the same prompt. This quality is both fascinating, because it is, in a sense, creative, and problematic, because it eludes our control in contexts where precision and predictability are essential. So, is non-determinism really what lies behind the processing of an LLM? What Is Non-Determinism? To understand what non-determinism is, we need to turn to the theory of computation. Imagine you’re in a maze. In a deterministic system, you are a lone explorer. You come to a fork in the road and choose the right path. If the path is blocked, you must go back (good old backtracking) and try the left path. In a non-deterministic system, however, you possess the gift of ubiquity. When you reach the fork, you split into two people. One goes right and the other goes left. According to Michael Sipser, the author of the book I