Large Language Models: The Ultimate Improv Partners (With a Parrot Twist)

The improvising parrots - metaphors for LLMs

Last weekend at Latitude Festival, I found myself belly-laughing at the comedy tent as performers seamlessly bounced off each other's energy. "Yes, and..." they'd cry, transforming a simple suggestion about a broken toaster into an epic tale of kitchen appliance rebellion. Watching this masterclass in improvisation, I couldn't help but think: This is exactly what it's like talking to an LLM.

Large Language Models are the ultimate improv partners. Throw them any scenario—from explaining quantum physics to writing a haiku about cheese—and they'll roll with it beautifully. They match your tone, build on your ideas, and somehow make even the most ridiculous conversations feel natural and engaging. Just like those Latitude comedians, they're masters of "Yes, and..." taking whatever you give them and spinning it into something unexpectedly delightful.

Of course, improv partners are not a perfect metaphor, for while those human performers were genuinely riffing and creating in real-time, LLMs are more like extraordinarily well-read parrots. Imagine a parrot that's somehow absorbed every comedy show, every witty conversation, every clever comeback ever recorded. It can recombine all these patterns to seem brilliantly spontaneous, but it's really performing sophisticated pattern matching rather than true understanding.

The parrot metaphor might sound diminishing, but it's actually kind of amazing. This "parrot" has read everything, remembers the patterns from billions of conversations, and can remix them into responses that are genuinely helpful, creative, and often surprisingly insightful.

Whether they're improv partners or literary parrots, LLMs have certainly mastered the art of making us feel heard and understood—even if the mechanisms behind their "intelligence" remain fascinatingly mysterious.

If you had to chose a metaphor for a LLMs what would it be?