The Measure of a Model

"Being open to the possibility that LLMs are conscious is the same as being open to the possibility that Microsoft Word is conscious...Contemplating that scenario is not a good use of your time."

excellent Ted Chiang essayhttps://t.co/nkPiah2oDv

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) June 3, 2026

I particularly like this bit from early in the article:

"Should we seriously consider the possibility that Claude, or any large language model, might be conscious? And if it has feelings, is it capable of receiving moral instruction?

No. Absolutely not. Generative AI is harmful enough when we understand it as a conventional technology, but if we confuse fluency at generating text with consciousness or moral agency, we're at risk of assigning responsibility to entirely the wrong parties whenever anyone uses a chatbot. To appreciate the titanic magnitude of this error, we need to begin by understanding how LLMs work."

My emphasis added.  Anyway, I got you covered on how LLMs work.

While I absolutely object to the notion that Commander Data is a toaster, what we currently have in the real 21st century clearly is no more sentient or conscious than any common appliance.  I wish people would think more criticially about what they're saying regarding these tools, and the attendant moral/ethical implications.

Selah.

PS - I also got you covered if you can't get by the paywall.