Decorative Image. A polynesian inspired pattern

Introduction to LLMs
(Large Language Models)

About this article

This article explains what a Large Language Model, or LLM, is and shows you some of the ways you can use it. LLMs are increasingly being used in workplaces — including in community and support settings — to assist with writing, planning, and communication. This article is written for people who are curious about AI tools and want to understand them without needing technical knowledge.

This page covers the same core information as our Introduction to LLMs video (coming soon!). Making information accessible matters to us, so we’ve shared this content in different formats.

Reading time: Approx 6-8 minutes.

Decorative image. Māori woman sitting at a table with a laptop in front of her. She has an LLM conversation on the screen. She is in a homely environment with plants and a bookshelf around her

‍What is an LLM?

LLM stands for Large Language Model. It is a type of AI that can talk, write, and sound like a human. You can type or speak to it just like you normally would and receive human-like responses.

There are many different LLMs available, including Copilot, Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT. In this article, we’ll mainly use ChatGPT as our example. Many of these tools support multiple languages (some sign language features are in development, but are still limited).

You don’t need to be good at spelling or grammar to use these tools. You can give them bullet points or rough ideas, and they’re often good at turning that into something clearer or more polished.

The video below demonstrates one of the most well-known LLMs, ChatGPT, helping with ideas for a team meeting.

[insert video[IJ1] ]

[video alt text] [IJ1]So I’m going to write Person types “Give me three ideas for fun ways to open a team meeting”. A second later ChatGPT says “Here are three openers that are genuinely fun and low-awkwardness / inclusive: 1. Two-word check in + tiny follow up, so it says everyone could share two words for how they’re arriving, and then as a follow up you could ask “what’s one thing that would make today’s meeting feel useful”, and on it goes

While LLMs can sound very human, they don’t actually understand meaning or context the way people do. They generate responses by predicting what words are likely to come next based on patterns in data — not by thinking or reasoning. That’s why your human judgement — deciding what to trust, what to change, and what to double-check — is one of the most important skills when using these tools. LLMs can be wrong, and they can sometimes “hallucinate,” meaning they confidently make things up.

Voice and video options

If typing isn’t always your thing, you’ll be pleased to know there are other options available. These include:

- the dictate function

- voice mode, and

- video mode

Dictate function

‍Many devices and apps also include dictation (also known as speech-to-text). You can use this to talk instead of typing. You may have noticed a symbol that looks like a little microphone on your smartphone keyboard or your computer. For instance, the screenshot of Google below shows the dictation symbol on the right-hand side of the bar where you type.

Google homepage screenshot. On the right hand side of the search bar there is a red circle around the microphone symbol.

‍The idea is that you click or tap on the microphone symbol, then talk just like you normally would. AI technology sits in the background listening to what you say, then converts your spoken language into written text. The video below demonstrates Ollie using the dictate function to help write an email to his team:

[insert video]

‍ [alt text for video] There’s a little microphone symbol you can click or tap and then I’ll say “Can you please write an email to my team? I want to remind them that at the team meeting next week we’ll be practicing our team waiata and I’ll attach the video for people to practice.”. Then I’ll click enter and it’s transcribed what I have said into text, and written me a really professional looking email. ‍

Limitations of the dictate feature

Like all AI tools, voice and dictation features have limitations.

Speech differences: Please note that it can struggle with non-standard speech or heavy accents. We expect this to improve in the coming years.

Using te reo Māori and other languages: If you are speaking English and use the occasional te reo Māori word (or another language), the tool may assume you are still speaking English and try to transliterate that word into English. Some tools have an unfortunate tendency to translate Māori words into English swear words! Please remember to check the output before you use it.

Decorative image. Caucasian man with down syndrome is talking to his phone. An LLM conversation is visible on screen. He is in a home environment with plants and a bookshelf around him.

‍Voice function

‍If you would like to have a spoken conversation with the AI tool, many tools have a free voice option. This is where you talk to the LLM just like you would talk to a human, and it responds with spoken answers that sound (mostly) natural.

‍Different LLMs have different symbols for the voice function. The image below shows what the icons for CoPilot and ChatGPT look like. ‍‍ ‍

Two voice input symbols shown side by side. On the left is a simple black microphone icon lablled 'CoPilot'. On the right is a grey circular button with black vertical sound bars labelled 'ChatGPT'.

The video below shows Ingrid demonstrating the ChatGPT voice function on her phone.

‍ ‍

[video[IJ1] ]

‍ ‍

[IJ1]If you tap or click on that it will open up Voice Mode. I’ll say “I don’t quite get what Mana Enhancing means from the EGL Principles, can you help me understand it?”

Video function

Some LLMs have video functionality on the paid plans. This works by giving the LLM tool access to your camera during a conversation, so the AI can see whatever is in your camera’s view. This can be really handy for people with vision impairments. In the video below, our vision-impaired colleague James is using ChatGPT video for the first time ever to read a menu at a cafe:

As with all camera-based tools, it’s important to think carefully about privacy and who or what is in view.

Image generation and review

Some LLM products include image generation. You can also access image-specific creation tools (such as MidJourney). Below are some images that we created using AI tools:

Photo realistic image of a group of people sitting around a table in a modern office having a meeting. One man in the foreground is using a wheelchair. Other people around the table are talking and smiling. They have laptops and a whiteboard.

Photo realistic image generated by MidJourney

Cartoon image of two smiling men with prosthetic legs standing side by side with their arms around each other. Both are giving the thumbs up. One man has dark brown skin and dark hair. The other man looks caucasion with ginger hair.

Cartoon image generated by ChatGPT

You can also upload your own images and talk to the LLM about them. This can be really handy if you want to produce Alt Text for a social media image, for instance (Alt Text is an image description for vision impaired people who use screen readers). You can also upload a photo of your fridge contents and ask for dinner inspiration ideas (my favourite use).

[video of Ollie]

As with any images, it’s important to think about consent, dignity, and how disabled people are represented. Please check with people before you upload images of them into an AI tool.

Decorative image. Three people sit around a table in a warm, welcoming office having a collaborative meeting. A laptop displaying an AI assistant interface is open in the centre of the table, surrounded by documents, notebooks and mugs.

One tool, many uses

Once you start using an LLM you will quickly see how useful it is. It’s great for helping with writing, including emails, reports, support plans, and funding applications. It’s also fantastic at proofreading. It can help you brainstorm ideas or provide constructive feedback on something you are working on. For instance, you can upload a strategic plan and ask it to review the plan and spot anything you might have missed out.

Use with care: LLMs are powerful, but not perfect

As useful as LLMs are, they do come with real risks — some of them serious.
If you haven’t already, we strongly recommend reading our article How to stay safe with AI or watching the accompanying video.

One of the most important things to remember is that AI tools can make mistakes. They can sound confident even when they are wrong.

As a rule of thumb:

If it involves your health or safety, check with a human expert.
If it involves money or legal issues, check with a human expert.
Don’t rely on AI alone

Avoid entering private or identifying information about yourself or other people (such as full names, addresses, health details, or anything from a support plan). If you need help with a document, remove identifying details first. We cover how to manage privacy risks in more detail in our article How to stay safe with AI and in the accompanying video.

Where to next?

This article is just an introduction. We’re developing a growing set of practical resources that go deeper into how LLMs can be used in everyday ways — especially in support and community contexts — and how to use AI safely, ethically, and effectively.

These will include:

How to use LLMs for writing support plans, reports, and funding applications
How to ask better questions (often called prompting) to get more useful results
Real-world examples of how disabled people and organisations are using AI
Clear guidance on safe, ethical, and accessible use

You don’t need to be “good with technology” to use these tools well. Curiosity, caution, and a willingness to double-check go a long way.

LLMs aren’t magic — but used thoughtfully, they can be powerful tools for saving time, reducing barriers, and increasing independence.