> It seems to me to posit that to understand requires that the understandee is human.

Here's a thought experiment. Suppose we make first contact tomorrow, and we meet some intelligent aliens. What are some questions you would ask them? How would you decide on their sentience or understanding?

Sentience involves goal-seeking, understanding, sensory inputs, first-personal mental states (things like pain, happiness, sadness, depression, love, etc.), a sense of what philosophers like Elizabeth Anscombe call I-ness, etc. Most of this stuff, to me, seems like is language-agnostic. Even a baby that can't speak feels pain or happiness. Even a dog feels anxiety or affection.

LLMs are a cute parlor trick, but a phantasm nonetheless.