Modern AI machines are not designed to be truthful but to generate narratives that make sense.

LLMs are capable of reasoning in areas that may not be represented in their training data.

Given their prowess at confabulation, it's reasonable to wonder whether AI machines could generate novels.

Theories needing new concepts challenge AI's ability due to their symbolic and causal complexity.

It is undeniable that modern-day AI machines have achieved remarkable fluency with language. They seem to understand what we tell them, regardless of the words we choose to express ourselves. This enables the same conversational fluidity that we have with humans. However, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that LLMs are not designed to be truthful, but to ensure that the narrative “makes sense” in any context. Given a context, LLMs are trained to generate what should come next in the developing narrative. Confabulations—plausible- sounding distortions or fabrications—are part of its repertoire, regardless of whether they correspond to truth or facts in our world.

One of the primary functions of language is to imagine and enable the creation of ideas that have never been expressed........

© Psychology Today