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I think I'm on (relatively) the same page as you regarding inappropriately anthropomorphizing LLMs, but aren't both "confabulation" and "hallucination" typically/historically cognitive science terms dealing with humans? So, they both would be anthropomorphizing? And if so, why is one better than the other?

"Confabulation was originally defined as "the emergence of memories of events and experiences which never took place" - From the year 1900

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Yes to everything.

Yes both terms anthropomorphize. And I do think anthropomorphic terminology is reasonable. For models. Given the disclaimer that strong similarities do not necessarily imply serious equivalence.

But if we are going to anthropomorphize, we should at least keep the meanings of words consistent.

The definition/source of confabulate you give is great. I think its modern use includes fill-in facts, and often emphasizes the fill-in of details of events, experiences, and factual knowledge in terms of how our memories & recall work on a normal basis.

We all do it. But less is better.

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