Do LLMs "Understand"?
"I think we feel like AIs 'understand' and I'm quite sure they don't. They manipulate information. They predict next words. They appear to understand—but they do not."— Participant J
Test the fragility of reasoning. Is it true logic, or just fragile pattern matching?
Changing names shouldn't break logic... right?
"What does it mean to "understand"? Do LLMs have understanding or just simulate it?"
Critical distinction emerged: Functional understanding (AI can do this) vs Phenomenal understanding (requires consciousness). Set up the P-zombie debate.
"I think we feel like AIs 'understand' and I'm quite sure they don't. They manipulate information. They predict next words. They appear to understand—but they do not."
"Understanding is a qualia-laden state—it feels like something to 'get it.' AI lacks that."
"Google AI mode says: Understanding has a felt component. If the recipient suspects no authentic being is there, trust collapses."
"If AI reads every psychology textbook ever written, can it practice manipulation? Yes—ChatGPT does that. So having a theory of mind in a practical sense doesn't require experiencing emotions, just decoding the story."
"LLM hallucination is equivalent to human creativity—we just don't say most of the things we are thinking out loud."