LLMs aren’t just chatbots anymore. Once you give them tools, they stop suggesting and start acting. This piece explores the real—and often overlooked—risks of giving LLMs the ability to affect the world.

Understanding Large Language Models: Tokens, Limits, and the Path to AGI

Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, power many of the AI tools we use today. These models are trained on vast amounts of text data and predict the most likely next word in a sentence based on context. At their core, LLMs break down text into tokens, the building blocks of language processing. A token might be a word, part of a word, or even a single character. By analyzing patterns in sequences of tokens, LLMs generate the text we see.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin Experiment: A Missed Opportunity?

In 2021, El Salvador made history as the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. President Nayib Bukele touted the move as a bold step towards financial inclusion, attracting foreign investment, and reducing reliance on traditional financial systems. The initiative included the rollout of a government-backed Bitcoin wallet, Chivo, which came preloaded with $30 worth of Bitcoin for citizens to kickstart adoption. On paper, it was a groundbreaking experiment with the potential to transform the nation’s economy and empower its people. But the reality of the implementation tells a different story.