I'm curious of other analogies or other ideas to help explain complex tools to non-technical friends. Many view ChatGPT as some kind of alchemy with no way to interpret what they see happening.

As Arthur C Clarke summed up in his three laws:

"any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

We're at this stage with AI for many people and trying to explain LLMs and token completion leaves most with a blank stare...