Steel beams vs. decoding.
Which meaning of Beam is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Beam (timber or light) came first (ancient / pre-modern). Beam search arrived in the 1970s. The data below shows which one owns the word now.
Wikipedia pageviews since 2015
Beam (timber or light)Beam search
English Wikipedia pageviews since July 2015 load here.
Duplicate's share of attention
Green line = duplicate's % · above 60 it owns the word · below 40 the original does
The case for each meaning
Sourced definitions, usage stats and quotes
Original · ancient / pre-modern
Beam (timber or light)
Loading the Wikipedia definition…
12-mo pageviews—
Year over year—
Peak month—
Duplicate · the 1970s
Beam search
Loading the Wikipedia definition…
12-mo pageviews—
Year over year—
Peak month—
More duplicated terms
AI & machine learning
Prompt · Prompt (AI)Hallucination · Hallucination (AI)Token · Token (language model)Attention · Attention (machine learning)Weight · Weight (neural network)Bias · Bias (machine learning)Temperature · Temperature (LLM sampling)Embedding · Embedding (AI)Transformer · Transformer (deep learning)Model · Model (AI)Training · Training (AI)Agent · AI agentGrounding · Grounding (AI)Alignment · AI alignmentLoss · Loss functionEpoch · Epoch (machine learning)Pruning · Pruning (neural networks)Distillation · Knowledge distillation