FOCI LLM User's Group: "Introducing the FOCI LLM User's Group Series"

WHAT: The FOCI LLM User's Group Series
WHERE: AE 217 and Carnegie 113
WEBEX: https://rensselaer.webex.com/meet/erickj4 (will be recorded)
WHEN: 6p, 20 Sep; 18 Oct; 15 Nov
LEADER: Aaron Green <greena12@rpi.edu>
MAILING LIST: https://cs.sympa.rpi.edu/wws/info/foci-llm-users

Large Language Models (LLMs) have seen a surge in popularity and widespread adoption since ChatGPT was launched back in November of 2022. Now, it feels as if LLM research is progressing at light-speed, and it can be difficult for new researchers interested in the field to know where to begin. This talk kicks off a three-part series about LLMs and serves as an introduction to the fundamentals of LLMs, before subsequent talks showcase how some researchers at RPI are using LLMs in their work. In this first talk, we will provide a basic overview of the technical details of how LLMs work, explain the important terminology within the LLM research community, and highlight some of the major advances in LLMs since 2017 that have led to the impressive technology we see today.

Pizza and salads will be available approx. 5:45p in AE 217 (20 Sep) and Carnegie 133 (18 Oct, 15 Nov)

Recordings of previous sessions:

• 20 Sep 2023: Introduction to Large Language Models
• 18 Oct 2023: A Guide into Open-Source Large Language Models and Fine-Tuning Techniques
• 15 Nov 2023: