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Software Engineering vocabulary · Machine Learning and Data Processing

Temperature

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˈtemprətʃər/nounCommon term

In software engineering, temperature means: A setting that controls how random a generative model's output is. Low values give more predictable, focused answers; high values give more varied and creative ones.

In Turkish: sıcaklık, sıcaklık parametresi

How it is used

Set for each request, usually between 0 and 1 or 2. Teams use a low temperature for extraction, classification and code, and a higher one for brainstorming. Even at 0, outputs are not always exactly identical. Often adjusted together with top-p.

Example sentences

  1. Set the temperature to 0 for the invoice extractor; we want output that is as consistent as possible.

  2. At a higher temperature the slogans were more creative, but some made no sense.

Common collocations

  • set the temperature
  • low temperature
  • temperature of 0.7
  • sampling temperature
  • LLMShort for large language model: a very large neural network trained on huge amounts of text to predict the next token, which lets it answer questions, write, summarize and code.
  • tokenA string of characters that proves a user or app has already logged in or has permission. It is sent with each request instead of a password.
  • hallucinationA confident but false or made-up output from a generative model, such as an invented fact, quote, source or piece of code.
  • promptThe text or other input given to a generative model to tell it what to do, such as a question, an instruction or a few examples followed by a task.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Machine Learning and Data Processing

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