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Original · left

Sampling (music)

Reusing a portion of an existing recording in a new song.

First in use: the 1970s
Duplicate · right

Sampling (language models)

Choosing each next token from a model's probability distribution.

First in use: c. 2018

Sampling / Sampling (music) / Sampling (language models)

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Duplicate share · 12 mo—
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Colour keyGrey · original meaningGreen · duplicate meaningAmber · contested (40–60%)How colours work

Hip-hop samples vs. top-p.

Which meaning of Sampling is the original, and which one is the duplicate riding on its name? Sampling (music) came first (the 1970s). Sampling (language models) arrived in 2018. The data below shows which one owns the word now.

Wikipedia pageviews since 2015

Sampling (music)Sampling (language models)
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

Share-of-attention line loads here.

The case for each meaning

Sourced definitions, usage stats and quotes

Original · the 1970s

Sampling (music)

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12-mo pageviews—
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Duplicate · c. 2018

Sampling (language models)

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More duplicated terms

AI & machine learning