Tag: stanford university

Categories
AI AI: Large Language Models

The Allure of Large Language Models: A Personal Connection

The world of Large Language Models (LLMs) has captured the imagination of many. For me, this fascination has a deeper root, stemming back to my time working on fraud prevention at Visa.

Card fraud is an ongoing battle. Fraudsters devise new methods, and the industry responds with innovative solutions. One such threat was the counterfeiting of magnetic stripes on cards. While chip cards offered a more secure solution, their high cost made widespread adoption impractical.

In search of a cost-effective solution, we explored two approaches. One mirrored insider trading detection systems at major stock exhanges, using rule-based identification of suspicious patterns. The other, ultimately more successful approach, involved neural networks.

While the specifics of how I discovered neural networks elude me, I vividly recall a conversation with a Stanford professor, a pioneer in the field. His encouragement spurred us to pursue this technology. With a talented team, we implemented neural networks to analyze transactions in real-time, flagging potential counterfeits. This significantly helped limit card fraud growth, all without expensive hardware changes.

Today, that same neural network technology underpins LLMs like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, launched in late 2022. Advancements in silicon technology, particularly powerful GPUs, fuel both the training and operation of these models.

Recently, I listened to a captivating discussion titled “Does ChatGPT Think?” featuring Stephen Wolfram. That conversation triggered me writing this blog post.

Wolfram’s description of LLMs resonated deeply with me:

“So the big achievement and the big surprise is that we can have a system that fluently produces and understands human language… It’s not obvious that it would work, and it’s a kind of scientific discovery that it’s possible to have a thing like ChatGPT that can produce this thing that’s one of our sort of prize features – namely human language.”

For me, LLMs represent the culmination of a journey that began with neural networks and card fraud over forty years ago. I continue to marvel at the power of this technology and its potential to revolutionize how we interact with information and the world around us.

Categories
iPhone 11 Pro Max Palo Alto Photography Stanford

Stone River

While heading to the Anderson Collection at Stanford I stopped by Andy Goldsworthy’s sculpture Stone River which lies in the field just across the street. Built from fragments from Stanford buildings damaged in the 1989 earthquake, it’s beautifully crafted and well worth a visit. All of these images were made with my iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Categories
Black and White Photography Photography - Black & White Photography - Canon 5D Mark II Stanford

The Power of Black and White Photography – An Example

Angel of Grief - Stanford University - 2012

I learned so much about the power of photography in the short time I had with my good friend Chris Gulker before he passed away in late 2010. For most of his work, Chris was dedicated to creating powerful black and white images – and he did so with great passion and flair. His images were almost always of people – and, sometimes, about events with people in them. Late in his life, he began shooting portraits – mostly in color – for InMenlo.com. But his passion remained the black and white photography he loved.

What is it about these images – when they shed the color that we expect? How do they become even more “powerful” – when losing that colorful dimension?

In my experience, going to monochrome is a fascinating way to explore images – first looking at them as originally shot in color – and then moving them to monochrome, shedding the influence of the color, and just getting down to their essence – of light and shadow.

This image of the Angel of Grief is an example. It’s a classic piece of memorial statuary located near the Stanford family tomb on the Stanford University campus. It’s tucked away in an out of the way place that you come across while walking. It’s so striking when you see it – a memorial to Henry Lathrop, brother to Jane Stanford, based on an 1894 sculpture by William Wetmore Story.

Late in May, I took Lily for a walk through this area – including the Arizona Cactus Garden and the Stanford memorial. I had along my Canon 5D Mark II with the 135mm f/2.0L lens. The late afternoon light was streaming in from the upper right of the image. A powerful sculpture – in powerful light.