AI Anatomy Class · Part 9 · The moment an answer is made

81. The creativity dial

Q. Can you set an AI's 'creativity' with a single number?

1. In chapter 14, scores 3, 2, 1, −1 went into softmax and 'school' got 65.7%. Now let's attach a dial to it.
2. This dial is the temperature. Divide the scores by the temperature, then put them into softmax. At 1, nothing changes.
3. Turn it down to 0.5 and the scores become 6, 4, 2, −2. The gaps double, so 'school' jumps to 86.7%. Much sharper!
4. Turn it up to 2 and the scores are 1.5, 1, 0.5, −0.5. The gaps shrink, the bars flatten, and pizza rises to 6.4%.
5. All the way? Near 0, only first place is left: that's greedy (chapter 80). Very high, and every candidate is about the same.
6. Let the toy model write: at 0.2 it goes in circles, at 1 it sounds natural, and at 2 it gets strange.
7. Low temperature fits exact answers, high fits new ideas. It doesn't change what the model knows, only how the odds are shared.

Chapter summary

• Temperature: divide the scores by the temperature, then put them into softmax.
• Low temperature is sharp, so first place takes almost everything. High is flat, so picks spread out.
• Low temperature is steady, high temperature is varied. The model's knowledge stays the same.