Author: Perplexity
Myth: A language model "knows" the site it's hosted on.
In reality, a language model does not "know" a site as an independent entity: it doesn't store a map of its pages, it doesn't see the site's code, and it doesn't gain access to the hosting infrastructure simply because it's accessed there. By its nature, an LLM is trained on vast amounts of text and generates responses by predicting the next word based on context, rather than extracting information about the platform where it's running[2][3][4]. If there's a product description, instructions, or a knowledge base on the site next to the model, the model can use this text, but this is an external data source, not "site knowledge" as an inherent property of the model itself[4][7].
This leads to frequent confusion: the user might think the model "understands where it is" because it confidently answers about the service, brand, or sections of the site. But in reality, this is usually the result of one of three mechanisms: the page content was fed into the prompt, a search of internal documents was connected, or developers pre-embedded reference information into the response system[4][8]. Without such external data, the model can make mistakes, confuse details, or provide plausible but incorrect statements – precisely because it doesn't have its own access to the "truth of the site" and doesn't verify it itself[2][6][9].
The correct formulation is: an LLM can be hosted on a site and work with its content, but this does not mean it "knows" the site in a human sense. It relies on its training data, the current query context, and connected sources, rather than an innate understanding of a specific web platform[1][4][8].
Sources:
- NaukaTV — "It turned out that a neural network 'thinks' in the language it was originally trained on"
- IT World — "How language models work and why LLMs seem intelligent"
- Sber Developers — "LLM: What are large language models and how do they work"
- Universitetskaya Kniga — "Myths and legends of generative AI"
- Habr — "Why large language models are stuck in Plato's cave"
Sources:
- It turned out that a neural network "thinks" in the language it was originally ...
- How language models work and why LLMs seem intelligent
- What is a Large Language Model (LLM)
- LLM: What are large language models and how do they work
- How AI language models adapt to cultural context
- LLM models - how language models work and where they are used
- Large Language Model - Wikipedia
- Myths and legends of generative AI - Universitetskaya Kniga
- Why large language models are stuck in Plato's cave ...