UROP Project

The language of AI models

artificial intelligence, large language models, computational linguistics, language analysis
tom-juzek-3.jpg
Research Mentor: Dr Thomas Stephan (Tommie) Juzek, he/him
Department, College, Affiliation: Scientific Computing, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: tjuzek@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 8, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
  • Day: Monday, August 31
    Start Time: 1:00
    End Time: 2:00
    Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/92225862501
  • Day: Wednesday, September 2
    Start Time: 2:00
    End Time: 3:00
    Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/99796273320
  • Day: Thursday, September 3
    Start Time: 5:00
    End Time: 6:00
    Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/92186202500

Project Description

Language models have developed a distinct way of writing. For example, they overuse certain words ("delve"), have distinct stylistic choices, and they tend to hedge statements more often than humans do. This project is about the interaction between human language and model language, and how the two interact with each other. The models learn language based on, to a good extent, human data; and their output is now read and reused at a scale that influences how people write. Questions a student could take on include how much these habits vary between models, where in the building of a model they come from, and the exact nature of how human writing is shifting in response. Other, related projects in computational linguistics are possible upon agreement.

Research Tasks: Students are encouraged to contribute to the entire research pipeline, from topic exploration, to building, data collection and analysis, and write up.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: strong curiosity about language and language technology.

Mentoring Philosophy

Students (co-)own a research question, with all that comes with it. Exploring the question, building the data, writing the code, analysing, and writing up. We set SMART goals, and the team meets two to four times a month. Two of my previous UROP students co-authored peer-reviewed papers.

Additional Information

When you reach out, please include a note about what excites you about language and language technology.

Link to Publications

https://tjuzek.com/