"You can actually read up on how these things work."
While you can definitely read about how some parts of a very complex neural network function, it's very challenging to understand the underlying patterns.
That's why even the people who invented components of these networks still invest in areas like mechanistic interpretability, trying to develop a model of how these systems actually operate. See https://www.transformer-circuits.pub/2022/mech-interp-essay (Chris Olah)
While you can definitely read about how some parts of a very complex neural network function, it's very challenging to understand the underlying patterns.
That's why even the people who invented components of these networks still invest in areas like mechanistic interpretability, trying to develop a model of how these systems actually operate. See https://www.transformer-circuits.pub/2022/mech-interp-essay (Chris Olah)