How Do Chatbots Work?

Now ask students: How do you think chatbots work? How do they make it seem like they’re really talking to you?

Have them work in pairs to develop an explanation of how they think chatbots work. Each pair should make an explanation that is either a diagram (that shows all the “parts” that they think make a chatbot work) or a flowchart (that shows the steps that they think make a chatbot work.)

When students are done, have each pair join with another and give feedback on each others’ explanations. Each group of four can then make changes to their diagram or flowchart based on how the feedback may have changed their thinking.

Have students view the video “How Large Language Models Work.” You can have students answer questions about how large language models work before watching the video and review the answers as a class after the video.

Students can answer the questions and view the video in this student chapter, or show the video in fullscreen below.

After the video, ask students the following questions: