My First Language Model
This is the original LLMs Unplugged workshop, and still the best place to start. Participants count word patterns in a real text, record them as tally marks on grid paper, then roll a d10 to generate brand-new text from those patterns. Somewhere between the tallying and the dramatic readings, the penny drops: this is what ChatGPT does, just vastly scaled up.
We’ve delivered it to school students, undergraduates, teachers, and senior executives in industry and government. It needs no coding and no maths beyond counting and percentages.
Choose your length
One lesson, three lengths. Each length keeps everything from the one before it and adds a module:
| Length | Modules | Adds |
|---|---|---|
| 60 minutes | Training + Generation | the core train-then-generate loop |
| 90 minutes | + Pre-trained Model Generation | what happens with a bigger model and more data |
| 2 hours | + Agentic AI | how models use tools to act on the world |
Every length opens with a quick icebreaker and scene-setting (who’s used ChatGPT? how do you think it works?) and closes with a “scaling up” discussion connecting the paper model to modern LLMs, then Q&A.
Suggested timing (90-minute version)
- 0:00 kick-off — icebreaker, then: today we build our own AI, small and simple, but using the exact same approach as the big ones
- 0:20 Training — tally word patterns from a text into the grid
- 0:40 Generation — roll dice to generate new text from the grid; share back with dramatic readings
- 1:00 Pre-trained Model Generation — same dice game, but with a printed booklet trained on a whole book
- 1:20 close — scaling up: how does this connect to ChatGPT? how has this changed how you’ll use these tools?
For the 60-minute version, drop the pre-trained booklet section and tighten the close. For the 2-hour version, add Agentic AI after the pre-trained section (about 20 minutes) and give every discussion a little more room to breathe.
You will need
For each pair (or small group) of participants:
- pen or pencil
- a printed grid template (or any grid paper)
- a d10 die (any die works with a little improvisation)
- some training text: a few pages of a kids’ book is ideal, but anything works
- 90 minutes and up: a pre-trained model booklet—the Tools page has ready-to-print booklets for several texts, or you can generate your own
Plus a projector for the slides.
Before you deliver
- print the grid templates, and the booklets if you’re running 90 minutes or longer (one per pair; a mix of different texts makes the share-backs more fun)
- if your group isn’t yet comfortable with dice-based weighted sampling, run the Weighted Randomness module first as a warm-up (add about 30 minutes)
- got extra time, or a group that wants more? the Sampling module makes a great add-on after generation—it shows how temperature changes the character of the output without changing the model
Using the slides
- My First Language Model (60 min) (presenter guide PDF)
- My First Language Model (90 min) (presenter guide PDF)
- My First Language Model (2 hours) (presenter guide PDF)
The presenter guides are PDFs with every slide followed by a page of its speaker notes—handy if you'd rather prepare away from the browser.
The slides run in your browser, and every slide carries full presenter notes—what to say, what to watch for, and how long each part should take. A few keys worth knowing:
- f toggles fullscreen—do this before you start presenting
- s opens the speaker view in a separate window, with the presenter notes, a timer, and a preview of the next slide (drag it to your laptop screen and put the slides on the projector)
- o shows an overview of all slides, handy for skipping ahead if you're running short on time