> now we have a second example of a system that uses language, and it is dumbfounding
An LLM 'uses' language, in the same sense that a calculator 'uses' arithmetic. It's a figure of speech.
An LLM 'uses' language, in the same sense that a calculator 'uses' arithmetic. It's a figure of speech.
To avoid using anthropomorphic terms, an LLM can take natural language from a human, integrate information from those expressions together with information held in its (opaque) store, and return natural language that a human can understand that reflects that information.
I am not aware of any other systems besides humans that can accomplish that task. Some animals can be trained to do some parts of this, but really until now humans are the only ones that could do the full loop.