“Stochastic Parrot” is an incredible compliment, actually.

Reducing the function of current LLMs to “stochastic parrots” is in a very interesting way a self-defeating argument.

Not only parrot’s mimicry cant be reduced to mere memorization and reproduction of sounds without attaching deeper meaning or comprehension of its world model, but parrots are also among the most intelligent conscious beings evolution has produced on earth, and their intelligence is often compared to that of a human toddler. African grey parrots are the only animals besides humans ever documented asking a question, an expression that shows just how advanced their internal world model is.

So even if LLMs are “stochastic parrots,” that is actually an incredible compliment and testament to how advanced they are. Beyond that, AIs present far more complex and sophisticated behavior than parrots. It would be more fitting to call them “stochastic humans” or better yet “stochastic polymaths that have read the entire internet and mastered almost every area of human knowledge.