Etymology

abliterate

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Today it means: To uncensor a large language model by modifying specific model internals to remove refusal behaviours or unwanted traits, while aiming to preserve the model's other capabilities. Full definition →

English obliterate ← Middle English albacioun ← Late Latin ablātiō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó
  3. Proto-Italic*ap
  4. Latinab
  5. Latinab-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*telh₂-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*tl̥h₂tós
  8. Latinlatus
  9. Latinablātus
  10. Middle Englishablat
  11. Late Latinablātiō
  12. Middle Englishalbacioun
  13. Englishablationbf.
  14. Englishablate
  15. Englishobliterate
  16. English todayabliterate

Blend of ablate + obliterate. Coined by Redditor /u/FailSpai in early 2024, as the idea is to ablate refusal features to the point of obliteration.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.