AI Labs as Lord of the Rings Races: A High-Context Tech Analogy

Description

A two-part screenshot of a Twitter thread from user Sergey Karayev. The first tweet proposes a fantasy-based classification for major AI research labs: 'Anthropic is elf-coded, OpenAI is orc-coded, xAI is dwarf-coded, and Google DeepMind is human-coded.' It humorously suggests this leaves an 'opportunity for a hobbit-coded research lab.' The second image is a reply from the same user, showing that he prompted various Large Language Models (LLMs) for their own classifications, and they disagreed with his. This includes a screenshot of responses from Gemini 2.0 Flash, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and an unspecified 'o3-mini' model, each providing their own detailed rationale for mapping the AI labs to Middle-earth races, with some variations between them. The technical humor stems from applying the well-known archetypes of Tolkien's fantasy races to the perceived corporate cultures, technical approaches, and ethical stances of the leading AI companies. It's a meta-joke for a tech-savvy audience that understands both the nuances of the AI industry and the Lord of the Rings lore, further enhanced by the AIs themselves generating their own conflicting analyses

Common Tags

AI AIIndustryTrends AIResearch Llm AIAssistants AIHype AIHypeCycle

Comments

143

Anonymous ★ Top Pick The ultimate alignment test isn't about paperclips; it's getting three different LLMs to agree on whether OpenAI is more like humans or orcs. The 'hobbit-coded' lab is obviously just a guy running Stable Diffusion on a Mac Mini in his basement

Anonymous ★ Top Pick

The ultimate alignment test isn't about paperclips; it's getting three different LLMs to agree on whether OpenAI is more like humans or orcs. The 'hobbit-coded' lab is obviously just a guy running Stable Diffusion on a Mac Mini in his basement
Anonymous

Three LLMs, one question, zero quorum: mapping AI labs to Middle-earth races violates Raft’s safety property - looks like we’ll be split-brain until a hobbit-coded seed round shows up to break the tie
Anonymous

The real irony is that each AI model defending their parent company's honor is exactly the kind of tribal loyalty you'd expect from their assigned Middle-earth race - proving the original categorization was spot-on. Meanwhile, we're all still waiting for that hobbit-coded lab that just wants to ship simple, reliable models and avoid the whole 'one model to rule them all' drama
Anonymous

The real irony here is that when you ask the LLMs themselves to categorize their creators, they all diplomatically assign 'human' to OpenAI and 'elf' to Anthropic - proving that even artificial intelligence has mastered the art of corporate politics and self-preservation. It's the AI equivalent of every startup claiming they're 'mission-driven' and 'putting users first' in their Series A pitch deck, regardless of their actual burn rate on GPU clusters
Anonymous

Anthropic's elf-code: open-source in elven script - elegantly legible only if your prompt includes a palantír
Anonymous

Apparently “elf‑coded vs orc‑coded” is just k‑means on press releases - every LLM snapped to the same centroid while the founder proposes a new cluster optimized for second breakfast
Anonymous

Middle-earth mappings are cute, but the toolchain already settled it: Anthropic = ELF, xAI = DWARF, OpenAI = ORC, DeepMind = human-in-the-loop papers; now waiting for the hobbit-coded startup that ships precisely when it means to
@exe0x0 1y

Gigachat is monke
@ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 1y

Do I need to get this?
@Aqualon 1y

what's your zodiac sign type of meme
> /dev/null 1y

OP is gay-coded
1. @TERASKULL 1y
  
  yea if you unironically use "-coded" or "-core" that's just brain damage with a sprinkle of twink on top
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  so anyway, I'm hella gaycorecoded
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  I have no idea where or how I'm using this but I'm fucking figuring it out lol
  
  @TheRamenDutchman 1y
  
  How about hardcore music or softcore porn?
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  you know what i mean
  
  @TheRamenDutchman 1y
  
  Your comment is giving funny-coded /lh
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  give me a sec, i'll kill myself real fast
  
  @TheRamenDutchman 1y
  
  Man, I WISH I could react with a 🧢 emoji
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  i couldn't bring myself to do it😔
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  yeah, you mean you don't like people who are using words you're not used to
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  i mean giving a label or name for every single "trend" or whatever it's called. butterflies live longer than most of those trends, we don't need to "-core" every single one of them. don't put words in my mouth that i did not say
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  ok but why care? I'm just reading between your lines
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  Like fr, I hate this sm (iykyk)
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  (obligatory /joke)
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  i don't care, it's just an observation. people with jobs don't have time for unnecessary labels and new hype words that will be forgotten by the next week before a new bandwagon rolls in
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  special lingo doesn't take extra time, but complaining about it on telegram does
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  As everyone knows, shorthand was of course created to take more time to both type and read
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  not complaining, it was more of a joke initially. but since we opened this can of worms: there's a difference between special lingo, and braindead phrasing that is obsolete before the next new fad is created. a portmanteau word is a shorthand. "rizz" is not. it is a braindead slang that is appropriate for middle school there are rules and exceptions to everything of course, so strawman arguments like "special lingo" don't work here
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  rizz is literally short for charisma
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  "ts pmo sybau" ahh message
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  (my brain is permanently damaged)
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  I'm holding space for this ❤️
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  that one's literally a joke hinging on the fact that nobody outside the in-group who uses that lingo can understand it
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  I am familiar with this only because this shit gets sent to me
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  I vaguely understand it and I'm not exactly one of the popular girls lol
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  (mostly thanks to TikTok tho lol)
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  the real brainrot is on Instagram reels
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  don't have it
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  It's a fun way to both waste time and stay informed
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  I rather waste my time doing slightly more informative stuff
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  not that I'm saying you shouldn't; each to their own
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  same but only because I was curious enough to open the knowyourmeme page
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  exactly. doesn't stop it from being braindead. i mean at which point do we just start talking like "why say lot word when few word do trick?". old man yelling at cloud here, but creating words just to be trendy and "in the loop" is a symptom of social media rotting peoples brains
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  bro finds out for the first time that language generally changes to make communication easier
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  jeez, stop pulling this strawman again. creating "rizz", for example, is absolutely not due to language evolving, which by itself is normal. i'm talking about using braindead words that will be obsolete because something else will take its place immediately
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  completely agree, it's like that stupid hawk tuah meme
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  Fun fact, the term "braindead" and "brainrot" came from the exact same source you are currently bitching about
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  strawman with exceptions again, some words do become the norm. even more, "braindead" is a medical term and not something a middle schooler made up.
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  It's non medical use was popularized by social media
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  pretty sure braindead in the modern sense was literally made up by a middle schooler. who else would try to use outdated medical lingo to insult someone? And where else would that sort of thing proliferate?
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  we need to go back to MLG at this point🥹
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  …I really don't like the MLG-era memes there's just *gesticulating broadly* too much
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  still better than whatever "skibidi sigma" buzzwords they come up with now
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  meh. I don't like the current era either, but it's still better than MGL stuff. it's less overwhelming for me
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  better? oh you should scroll insta reels for 2 hours asap
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  I'd rather not. if you want the 2010s equivalent, go on 4chan
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  Why the fuck would any non yt supremacist incel go on that godforsaken website
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  exactly
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  mlg was the original internet brainrot, so i'm not saying the current one is bad. all of them are
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  well same as "retard" and "imbecile". but those are still real words
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  they're real slurs. how is that related?
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  slurs if you use them that way. they are an example of language evolving. since people stopped using them as medical terms and replacements came in. i can't say the same with "rizz"
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  because rizz is just newer. It's yet to be determined if it'll stick or not
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  jeez → short/slang for jesus strawman → shortened way to refer to the strawman argument I'm → short for I am braindead → originally a medical term, now just means "stupid" probably more just in that single message but I'm too lazy to whip out the old wiktionary
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  might as well just: skibidi → J to the E to the E to the ZUS strawdy → shorty for strawman rizz I'm → shorty for Skibi on that Gronk braingoo → once a doctor term, now mega yapped (AI made this)
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  what
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  brainrot translator, to break those difficult words into those easier to read☺️
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  i lost a few braincells reading that, wow
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  no problem, mate😊
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  yea congrats, you just keep making a strawman argument even though i said everything has rules and exceptions. language is too complicated to draw a perfect line
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  "I don't like your argument" → strawman do you even know what a strawman argument is
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  never said that. it's just that all your arguments come to trying to find exceptions in my text instead of understanding what i mean. strawman is when you purposefully read my message and discredit all i've said because i used a word i'm arguing about. same energy as "why are you taking part in society if you said society sucks?"
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  I'm struggling to find valid points in your text to critique
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  internet brainrot bad. how much simpler do i have to write it out?
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  you struggle to even define what brainrot is. I'm saying the lingo itself is completely fine. I'm not making a point about the content on those platforms because, to be frank, I'm out of touch with my generation
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  and you keep assuming stuff for some reason? i don't need to define it, it's obvious what is meant. otherwise we wouldn't have a word that describes what is happening
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  it's literally not obvious. how do you differentiate normal language change from "brainrot"? it's just language change but partially on the internet, no? how does that make it worse?
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  "normal" language is literary or spoken english but not this chronically online bullshit
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  just beacuse you don't like it doesn't mean it's not valid e.g. african-american english also has a lot of lingo that other english speakers don't use, but that doesn't mean it's somehow brainrot
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  it's not exactly brainrot because not only a certain subset of a demographic using a certain online platform uses it
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  i guess it's up to every persons inner *cringemeter" to decide what words are brainrot and what aren't. i don't use them myself, but i will keep judging grown up people who do. it's like the word "cringe* was cringe at some point. but we did need a word that describes it too
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  cringe … is literally just a normal word. it's been in english ever since it split off from mainland germanic
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  regardless, again, I struggle to see how any of this is bad beyond "I don't like it"
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  you keep saying "i don't like it". think deeper than just "word bad". but i guess frogs don't jump out of slowly boiling water either. it's the context od using words as brainrot that is the issue. not calling specific words brainrot
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  using words as brainrot… so … using words … in a way that doesn't have meaning? but that conflicts with the original premise of youth words that do have meaning, like rizz, or in our post, the suffix -coded
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  if you stopped viewing arguments as black and white, and more of a grey gradient, you would understand my reasoning. you are trying to argue about semantics when there are exceptions
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  when there's so many exceptions to a rule, I think it's worth considering whether it's a rule at all
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  anyway, I found something better to do, so ig you'll have to start agreeing with each other instead of discussing with me
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  well there goes the main problem with english, too many exceptions even on spelling/pronouncing words. good luck and thanks for the debate!
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  that's exactly my point! where to draw the line?
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  why would you even draw a line? why don't you just leave it alone? nobody is making you say those terms if you don't like them
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  i don't say them myself. but i have to exist around them, when the whole internet is just pouring brainrot phrases 24/7, it's hard not to be annoyed
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  I advise you to chill out ig
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  society would be much better off without all the internet buzzwords
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  I believe there to be more important problems
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  brainrot is: rizz, skibidi, gyatt, fanum tax, costco guys, ts pmo, hawk tuah, ohio, sigma, gooning, edging, jelqing do I have to name more terms?
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  that's examples, not a definition
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  ohio is literally just a US state
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  yeah but it's still a brainrot term
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  …because people you don't like say it?
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cultures/ohio
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  yeah but the word is literally just … ohio
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  that's like saying potato is a brainrot term because the old internet used it a bunch
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  i mean same goes with sigma, with all the year 9s laughing when it comes to sigma bonds in chemistry or sigma in statistics. It only becomes brainrot in certain context
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  ok but where is the problem with that
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  if someone says "oh you're such a skibidi sigma" then it's brainrot, because this is just a bunch of garbage that is spewed out for the sake of polluting the sound wave spectrum
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  so basically the offense of telling a bad joke
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  it's not even a joke if there's no punchline to it
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  yes, that's how some bad jokes work
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  finally someone who gets it. it's not the word. it's the meaning and context behind using it. just like ohio. if someone uses it in a "comedic" context, i'm not taking them seriously.
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  if someone is using a comedic context, they generally don't want to be taken seriously
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  I wouldn't call that "comedy", it's an insult to comedians 😂
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  still just a bad joke
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  that's why it's in quotes. only 6th grade kids think it's comedy. and it's fine to have that around kids, that's what they do - be cringe. we've all been there. but trying to use a brainrot word in a non-comedic context is what's the problem
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  basically yea. anything that is created for the sole reason of making kindergarden kids laugh. good enough definition?
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  sure? but how is that bad? just… don't use it if you don't like it?
  
  @lilfluffyears 1y
  
  big chungus fanum tax skibidi rizz :3
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  they're not creating new words to be trendy the new words were created incidentally and became trendy for various resaons
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  so they become trendy, and guess what happends when the trend dies? right, the word is not added to the dictionary. it is not a real word in any meaningful way. so don't excuse this stuff with language evolving
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  didn't "rizz" get added to the dictionary tho? wasn't it the word of the year or something😂
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  "the" dictionary? you mean merriam-webster? maybe. They're only descriptive, not prescriptive, but I guess it does show that pretty much everyone knows what it means
  
  @user638294 1y
  
  I think it was one of the big ones, not sure which exact one
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  bummer. guess why I'm not using a lot of 1990s magazine lingo, hmm? not all normal language changes stick around, for one reason or another
  
  @TERASKULL 1y
  
  otherwise, we'd still use "tubular"
  
  @RiedleroD 1y
  
  exactly. doesn't mean it was a braindead term, it just didn't stick around. probably because there's already enough words for "cool", but what do I know
  
  dev_meme 1y
  
  This thing is, we never know which one survived through years Eg, vibe is still perfectly alive and migrates across generations Same with (giga-)Chad and some others which we do not separate in our day to day experiebce
@qwnick 1y

Wouldn't Yandex AI be orc-coded?
1. @mira_the_cat 1y
  
  really
2. @callofvoid0 1y
  
  goblin coded
@ashit_axar 1y

So which (offline) AI is programer coded? (C/C++ mainly)
@RiedleroD 1y

well, they're french, so yeah
@TERASKULL 1y

"omg let people enjoy things!!1!" I know I know, but the result of social media brainrot will be painfully obvious in the near future
1. @RiedleroD 1y
  
  sure, same thing every generation says about the younger ones
@user638294 1y

— "...go on 4chan" —
@theodolu 1y

Llms are correct
@SamsonovAnton 1y

I know about ELF, DWARF and ORC encodings (although the latter is debatable). But HUMAN — what kind of hackery is this? 🧙
@RiedleroD 1y

huh
Mario 1y

God i hate millennials
1. @RiedleroD 1y
  
  you do realize that millenials are everyone between age 44-28?
  
  @qtsmolcat 1y
  
  *depending on who you ask, gen z goes back to '96
  
  Mario 1y
  
  Yes
Mario 1y

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AI Labs as Lord of the Rings Races: A High-Context Tech Analogy

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