Episode 8: How Do Large Language Models Learn? Training the Brain Behind ChatGPT

Episode 8: How Do Large Language Models Learn? Training the Brain Behind ChatGPT

Image with computer servers racks with an image of a digital brain and library books overlaid on it.

Welcome back to Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks! In this episode, we continue our Artificial Intelligence series and dive into the big question: How do Large Language Models actually learn?

If Episode 6 explained what AI is and Episode 7 showed us what Large Language Models are, Episode 8 is all about the training process, the hardware behind it, and what can go wrong when training goes sideways.


🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • How Large Language Models are trained step by step
  • Why tokens are the LEGO bricks of AI
  • The role of GPUs, servers, and massive data centers in powering AI
  • A library analogy that makes servers easy to understand
  • What happens when training goes bad: bias, hallucinations, and overfitting
  • A fun Tech Tip experiment you can try with ChatGPT to see it in action

🖥️ Key Highlights:

  • Training requires billions of practice rounds of “guess the next word.”
  • GPUs and servers in racks work together inside warehouse-sized data centers, using as much electricity as a small town.
  • Data quality matters—bad training leads to biased answers, made-up facts, or brittle models.
  • ChatGPT isn’t “thinking”—it’s predicting tokens, one after another.

💡 Tech Tip of the Episode:

Ask ChatGPT a simple question you know the answer to, then give it a twist.

Examples:

  • “Who was the first person to walk on the moon?” → Neil Armstrong
  • “Who was the first person to walk on the sun?” → Watch how it tries to “make sense” of nonsense.

This experiment shows how ChatGPT predicts patterns—not truth.


🎧 Listen & Watch:


🌐 Join the Conversation

What’s the wildest or funniest “hallucination” you’ve seen from ChatGPT? Drop a comment below or connect with me on:

more episodes

YouTube thumbnail for Mr. Fred’s Tech Talks Season 2, Episode 23, titled “The AI School Supply List,” featuring a backpack filled with traditional school supplies, a glowing AI laptop, and a robotic hand.

Season 2, Episode 23 – The AI School Supply List: What Students Actually Need Now

New to artificial intelligence? This episode continues Mr. Fred’s approachable series about AI, how it works, and how families and educators can use it thoughtfully. After listening, explore the complete five-part AI series below. Pencils? Check. Notebooks? Check. Four mysteriously specific black pens? Check. But as students prepare for another school year, artificial intelligence is

Read more >
Scroll to Top

it only takes

5 Minutes and 22 Seconds