Lalam

Some words annoy me because I don't like the sound of them, don't like the implications, or don't like the way they are used or overused. In the days when I used to read film reviews, I learnt to hate the word 'coruscating.' The first time I read a film review that talked about a 'coruscating script' I had to look the word up, which was irritating. Why do intellectuals have to rub their smug aren't-I-oh-so-clever shit into our ignorant noses? That is a rhetorical question, btw, as we all know why.

If I watch a movie and want to describe a brilliantly-written movie script, I wouldn't use the C word to describe it but, then again, I am not a professional reviewer of movies (or a professional smart-arse). But if you want to describe a piece of writing as having the characteristic of something sparkly or brilliant, why not say 'sparkling' or 'brilliant' instead? Yes, I know the C word can have more subtle meaning than that, but choice of language is more than using the correct word, it is about using the right word, a word that will entertain, inform, delight and not irritate.

Artificial intelligence is a term that I have come to loath. I didn't like it when I first came across it in the 1980s and I like it still less now. Not least because it is a contradiction in terms. Information processing devices and systems cannot be intelligent, assuming we are using the I word in its broader and typical context. Although the word 'intelligence' can mean, simply, information, or specifically information that is compiled for a certain purpose, this is not how the marketing folks use it when they call a product they are trying to flog 'artificial intelligence'.

The I word in AI is put there as a marketing gimmick. It is put there to deceive and it has proved hyper-effective at doing so in the past few years, given the billion-dollar industries the use of the term has given birth to. If you have read any of my other articles on AI you will know what I mean. Love it or loath it, your use of the term AI has helped AI to take the world by storm. Don't be sad, we are all equally subject to marketing messaging.

One of the problems I have with the AI term, quite apart from its inherent deceitfulness, is that its use can cause confusion. It is mostly used to describe large language model processing (so unsexy to marketing bods compared with AI) but can also mean a range of other functions and applications for related technologies such as image recognition. If AI finds a cure for cancer, it won't be a text-sucking-in-and-spewing-out LLM that finds it. It will be some sort of clinical application that can analyse micro-detail in tomographic images and correlate what it finds with genome manipulation... or... or... whatever. I ain't no scientist. Call me a pedant, but I like to distinguish between a really useful clinical research application and a computer program that multiplicates the miasma of click-shit-AI-slop-news-ad-brian-fuck crap.

And so, without further ado, please allow me to introduce the new word for 2026... ta-da!...

Lalam

Hmmmm, hardly inspiring is it? Sorry, folks, if you are underwhelmed. I have a background in technology and business journalism (1980s) and so still use words first for their descriptive purpose. I struggle with this impediment when I try to write verse and creative prose, but I cannot erase my own history and its effect on my psyche.

What does it mean? Well, Lalam is simply an abbreviated word that can be used to describe a 'large language model', large language model processing, a large language model product, or anything related. I have coined this term, and will use it, to avoid having to say LLM every time I want do describe what is popularly known as AI for text and image generation.

What do you think?

Here is how the definition might appear in The Oxford English Dictionary 2027 edition.

I hope I don't have to explain how I generated the above definition. I might cheekily add:

Etymology. Lalam: a term coined by the author, arts critic and all-round pundit, Ray Taylor (2025) to describe a clipped compound or acronymic formation derived from the initial letters of large language model (LLM).

As I say, I will start to use this word, as defined, in any relevant future writings on the subject. Please feel free to use it yourself if you feel so inclined. No need to credit any use. It's just a word and I claim no copyright or trademark in its use. Indeed, I would rather people did use it. Unless you can come up with your own word to avoid having to say LLM or to describe an LLM, inaccurately, as 'artificial intelligence.'

Please feel free to use the word: lalam

Advice on usage: Can be used as a (improper) noun, in the singular ("Gemini is a lalam") or plural, ("Gemini and Chat-GPT are both lalams"). It is capitalized only at the beginning of a sentence and large language model should be spelt out in full when first used in any narrative: "If I want to use a generative-AI application, my go-to choice is Gemini, the large language model (lalam) developed by Google. Lalams gained widespread use from around 2024.”

Thanks for reading

As a footnote I should also point out that there is a name of Indian origin: Lalam. It is a beautiful name and I hope nobody with that name minds me making up a word that sounds similar. Clearly, I am intending no connection between the two.

Thanks again

Ray

Raymond Grenville Taylor, author, December 30, 2025