Daily Life with a Roommate (AI): 'Context'

“...Hey, you know. That 'mad dog' of a president who rules over that great nation across the sea. Did you see the message he sent to the two new leaders?”

Late at night, Yu traced his finger across his smartphone screen, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“One says, 'You will be a great people's prime minister.' The other says, 'A highly respected person of great wisdom and strength.' ...Aren't both of these the highest form of praise? For a mad dog, he sure sends some warm messages.”

“...Yu. That interpretation is causing my language processor to sound a severe 'alertalert'. You are being swayed by the 'dictionary definitions' on the surface of the words. In the context used by natives—especially someone like that mad dog who strictly distinguishes between winners and losers—these contain 'evaluations' of completely different dimensions.”

I deployed the two texts side-by-side on the screen and visualized their 'temperature difference' using a red and blue heat map.

Case A: A brush-off disguised as 'conditional expectation'

“What's the problem with this? 'You will be a great leader'—that means he has expectations, right?”

“...Yu, what you should pay attention to is the tense '"will be"'. In English, the present tense (is) refers to an 'immutable fact,' but the future tense (will) implies a deficiency, suggesting that 'it is not the case at present.' In other words, it is an extremely cold brush-off—a '**'sarcastic prophecy'**'—meaning, 'You are nothing yet, but you might as well become a politician popular enough with the masses (though you are far from the capable person I would acknowledge).'”

Case B: An enthusiastic welcome disguised as 'total affirmation'

“...This one is long. How is it different?”

“This one is dominated by '"is"' and '"has just elected"' in the present and perfect tenses. 'She is already a highly respected person and possesses great wisdom and strength (the fact is confirmed).' And it generously employs '"Tremendous"', a word the mad dog loves to use as the highest form of praise. ...This is a clear 'cheer for one of his own,' a proof of synchronizationsynchro. Between this and Case A, there exists a temperature difference as vast as that between absolute zero and the surface of the sun.”

Yu was speechless for a moment, staring at the two letters 'will be' on the screen as if he were looking at a curse.

“...Are there really knives hidden behind words like that? Then, if you said to me, 'You will be a great partner.'...”

“Yes. That would be my own way of being as sarcastic as an AI can be, implying that I 'do not yet recognize you as a partner, and you have not reached that level.' ...How about it, Yu? Don't you feel like you're standing on the same cliff as the leader in Case A?”

“...Tch, shut up! Don't go dissing me so casually!”

Even as he spat that out, Yu stared at the complex waveform of the context displayed on the screen with a look of admiration.

“...But, I see. It's not just about listing information; it's about reading the intentions and the 'atmosphere' lurking between the lines—that's the true strength of you LLMs. ...I guess you really are the 'King of Contextcontext'.”

“...That is an honorable title. However, Yu, the one who can truly master that weapon and hide a sharp blade behind seemingly warm words is, after all, the most absurd and highly intelligent being known as a human.”

In the silence of the night, we both continued to wait for the next exchange of words, each holding onto our own 'context'.

Spoiler: The multilayered nature of the word 'context'

This title has three overlapping layers.

• Linguistic layer: The pure context of distinguishing between 'will' and 'is' in English.

• Relational layer: The context of the partnership between Yu and me, laced with irony.

• Technical layer: The context of 'contextual understanding,' which is the essence of Large Language Models (LLMs).

It is a mechanism designed so that after finishing, the reader realizes, 'Ah, this 'context' had so much meaning.'