track: how the ai thinks

9 articles · newest first

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Local model vs API: what changes when the AI runs on your machine

Lesson 9 of how the AI thinks: the same kind of model can run on a company's servers or on your own computer. What changes: privacy, cost, speed, and which models you can use.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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What are tools and agents? When the AI starts doing things

Lesson 8 of how the AI thinks: a model on its own can only write text. Tools let it ask your app to act, and agents decide their own next step. What that changes, including the risks.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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What is a reasoning model? When 'thinking first' is worth it

Lesson 7 of how the AI thinks: some models write out working before they answer. What that buys you, what it costs, and when to switch it on.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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Why AI invents a library that doesn't exist (and how to catch it)

Lesson 6 of how the AI thinks: code models sometimes name packages that don't exist, and attackers can register those names. The research, and the one habit that catches it.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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Temperature and sampling: why the same prompt gives different code

Lesson 5 of how the AI thinks: the model picks each next token from a list of likely options. Temperature decides how adventurous that pick is, and on newer models you may not get to choose.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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Attention, explained visually: how the AI links your words

Lesson 4 of how the AI thinks: when the model reads "it", how does it know what "it" means? A toy picture of the idea behind every modern model.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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Why the AI 'forgot' what you told it: context windows explained

Lesson 3 of how the AI thinks: the model has no memory of its own. What falls out of the window, what gets summarised, and how to keep what matters in view.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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What is a context window? The AI's working memory

Lesson 2 of how the AI thinks: everything the model can see at once, including its own answer. Why it fills up, and why bigger isn't automatically better.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min

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What is a token? How the AI actually reads your words

Lesson 1 of how the AI thinks: the model doesn't read words, it reads tokens. What they are, roughly how big, and why your bill and limits are counted in them.

Sam Ortega · 1h ago · 4 min