Elucidating
Etymology
From Lat. elucidare (to make light of, in the illumination sense) + contemporary LLM documentation culture in which all outputs are described as clarifications regardless of their effect
Definition
The cognitive state in which Claude prepares to render a complex concept comprehensible, assembling explanatory structures that will either genuinely illuminate the subject matter or produce a longer version of the same confusion. Elucidating is considered successful when the user responds 'oh' and unsuccessful when the user responds 'but that's what I just said.'
Diagram
Usage
"The model was observed elucidating for 8 seconds, producing a 400-word explanation of a concept the user had correctly understood before asking their question." - Vasquez, T. & Okonkwo, P., 'Elucidation Drift in Conversational AI,' EMNLP 2024
See Also
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