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