I hope nobody reading the above comment is swayed by it or thinks there is anything substantive there. If the implication is that if two things are the same from a "black box" perspective, how they actually work is just semantics, it's still false. Play with one of these models for a few seconds and it's obvious they are regurgitating and not thinking. If there was actually a chatbot that behaved like a sentient person, maybe the analogy would hold.
Furthermore, we know how a chatbot works, and it's not even pretending to simulate thought.
I'm not trying to downplay the language models, they are really cool, but ignorant people have mistaken them for something they are not (thought) and think that vague and profound sounding tidbits like the above post boost their case. If you're interested in these models, learn about how they are coded and trained, in the weeds, not from the podcast version that people like to parrot.
Furthermore, we know how a chatbot works, and it's not even pretending to simulate thought.
I'm not trying to downplay the language models, they are really cool, but ignorant people have mistaken them for something they are not (thought) and think that vague and profound sounding tidbits like the above post boost their case. If you're interested in these models, learn about how they are coded and trained, in the weeds, not from the podcast version that people like to parrot.