Demonstrably, humans do think, and arguably demonstrably, early life would go down a path of simple predictions (in the form of stimulus -> response). And demonstrably, evolution did lead to human level intelligence.

So I don’t think there needs to be a semantic debate over where in the process intelligence started. The early responses to stimulus is a form of prediction, but not one that requires thinking.

There can be much disagreement that prediction is at the core of intelligence, or if optimizing ability to predict leads to intelligence. But from the established facts, it is the case the higher forms of life were bootstrapped from the lower ones, and also our biochemistry does have reward functions. Successfully triggering those rewards will generally hinge on making successful predictions. Take from that what you will.