Large Language Models with chat interfaces are all the rage, everywhere we turn these days. Some people are sure they’ll lead to a cataclysm for the human race, others are sure that they’re going to destroy the creative professions, and still others think it’s just fancy autocorrect.  Without endorsing any of these positions, I decided to ask LLaMa 3.0b at Hugging Face an important question.

A speaker at this party said, “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” Was he insulting us or complimenting us?

The quote “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve” can be interpreted in different ways depending on the context and tone in which it was delivered. On one hand, it could be perceived as an insult if the person saying it implies that they think most of those present are not worth their time and effort to get to know them better. On the other hand, it could also be seen as a compliment if the person means that there are some individuals present who are truly interesting and deserving of greater attention and appreciation. Without further clarification from the speaker or additional context, it is difficult to say for certain whether the statement was meant as an insult or a compliment.

This sounds like Otho Sackville-Baggins trying to mollify his wife. Any Brandybuck could do better, even after a big dinner with two bottles of wine.