Even I have limited understanding of how LLMs learn the semantic meaning of words. My knowledge is shallow at best. I know however that LLMs understand text now. Are able to understand concepts they "glean" from text and are able to give responses to queries that is not entirely made up. All these makes it a lot harder to explain to non-technical people what this is. I tell them these LLMs are not AI but when they go to these websites - they see it labelled as an AI chatbot. It also mostly does as advertised. And they are often in awe of whatever responses they tend to receive because they are not subject matter experts nor do they care to become one. They just want to get their "homeworks" done, complete their work assignments and this gets them there faster. How can I tell them it is not AI when it spews humane looking text. Heck, even I don't quite understand the "real" difference between LLMs and AI. The difference is nuanced but the line is clearer with a bit of technical understanding. The machine understands text. And can make conversation - however sycophantic. But without understanding why that is - I don't see why we won't exult its powers. I see religions sprouting from these soon. LLMs can deliver awesome sermons. And once you train them well enough, can take on the role of Messiah's.