How do large language models like GPT function?

Large language models like GPT are like super-smart helpers who know how to write stories and answer questions.

Imagine you have a giant dictionary that also knows how sentences work, it's not just words, but how they fit together. That’s what GPT is like inside its head. It was taught by reading millions of sentences, so it learned all the ways people talk, joke, explain things, and write stories.

Think of it like learning to play a game by watching others play. GPT watched how words are used in real life, just like you learn new games by seeing your friends play them. It saw how people start sentences, how they end them, and even how they make mistakes sometimes!

Now, when someone asks it a question or tells it to write something, it uses everything it learned to guess what the next word should be, like playing a game of "What comes next?" But instead of just one word, it keeps going, sentence by sentence, until it has a full answer or story.

It's not magic, just really smart guessing!