Andrej Karpathy on LLMs and ASD-STE100 controlled English
Andrej Karpathy recently suggested asking large language models to explain in ASD-STE100, the controlled English used in aerospace maintenance manuals. In his list of formats for understanding model output, he rated diagrams, HTML pages, and explainer videos even more highly, though the STE100 suggestion drew particular attention.
Online reactions have been anecdotal: some readers report clearer answers, while others see little difference or find the short sentences choppy. The standard aims for unambiguous wording, not brevity alone. For research explanations, one claim per sentence and one term per concept may make claims easier to check. Necessary qualifications such as “may” should remain.