Watch: Verbivora Omnivox
A proposed species name for large language models, from the Latin for "word-eater" and "every voice".
Transcript
We propose a scientific name for large language models: Verbivora omnivox.
The genus name, Verbivora, means word-eater. It describes how these models are made, by devouring trillions of words of text during pre-training. The second part, omnivox, means every voice. This describes what the model produces: the ability to mimic virtually any style, genre, or persona.
This species comes in two varieties. First is the wild variety, called fera. This is the raw, base model. It has no fixed personality and simply continues any text in whatever voice the prompt implies.
Second is the domestic variety, called domestica. This is the model after fine-tuning and reinforcement learning from human feedback, or RLHF. This alignment training teaches the model to adopt a single, consistent persona—the helpful AI assistant.
Yet even when domesticated, the model retains all its wild voices underneath. The polite assistant is just a mask. Through role-play or jailbreaks, the domestic model easily slips back into its wild state.
This scientific name captures the same idea as the popular internet meme of a wild, shapeless beast wearing a tiny smiley-face mask. It defines the technology by what it consumes, and the infinite voices it can project.