What Is a Large Language Model (LLM)? Why Retailers Should Care About the Tech Behind ChatGPT

What exactly is a large language model—and what does it mean for commerce?

In this foundational episode of AI Academy for Commerce, Vivek Farias breaks down LLMs in the simplest possible terms: sophisticated autocomplete built on trillions of data points. You’ll learn how LLMs work, what makes them “large,” and why they’re uniquely valuable for retail and eCommerce use cases.

From transformers to internet-scale training data to human preference modeling, Vivek makes LLMs understandable and relevant to every digital leader shaping the future of commerce.

If you’re asking questions like:

• How do LLMs like ChatGPT actually work?
• Why are they a game changer for AI-powered discovery?
• What makes LLMs useful for personalized retail experiences?

👉 This explainer is for you.

🔍 Topics covered: What is a large language model (LLM)? The role of transformers and training data Human preference encoding in LLMs Why LLMs matter for search, personalization, and discovery in retail