The dictionary definition of the word “ate” is a verb that could either mean the past tense of “eat” or what Merriam-Webster just pulled in a new ad.
The reference book publishing company, which is best known for its dictionaries, recently announced a new large language model it will release in November, accompanied by a video published to its social media accounts.
At first, users on X were really upset about the update, because it seemed like the company was fully embracing artificial intelligence.
“It is the dawn of the AI era,” the ad begins. The video then goes on to use corporate and Silicon Valley-esque jargon used to hype AI software by claiming their new “LLM” is a “powerful tool” with “rigorously designed parameters” that “will change the way you communicate forever.”
But don’t worry, the dictionary isn’t going to shift from being a physical book with pages to some weird dictionary version of ChatGPT. The company still apparently has a spine, because the ad eventually reveals that all this buildup was just to announce a new edition of their dictionary.
