GPT is an amazing technology. It’s also a confusing one. The system’s apparently “intelligent” responses to a wide range of questions — which seem to exhibit reasoning, creativity, even humor — have stirred intense excitement and induced general disorientation. Have we entered a brave new world in which our computers possess real understanding? Maybe even sentience? Has science fiction become reality — already?

And (perish the thought!) if a system as simple as GPT can do all this, might human understanding be less special than we think it is?

Recently, some AI researchers have argued that the latest version of GPT already has “sparks of Artificial General Intelligence.” In my anecdotal experience, many smart people take this possibility seriously. People I talk to seem to think that GPT may already have some form of understanding — or if not, that real understanding might be just around the corner. Then again, most of them also seem deeply unsure and generally befuddled about what’s really going on here…