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Comment by Melanie Mitchell

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AI researcher; complexity scientist and author
And language models are passive. They’re fed all this text, they predict the next word. [...] It’s only the world of language.
AI Verified source (Feb 11, 2026)
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Policy proposals and claims
AIs understand
votes Against
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Statement relation comments

AI Verified The quote portrays language models as passive next-word predictors limited to 'the world of language,' which clearly implies the author rejects the idea that AIs genuinely understand what we say. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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AI Verified The quote strongly implies opposition: it reduces language models to being "passive," "fed all this text," and merely predicting "the next word," saying "It’s only the world of language." That ordinary-language framing suggests they process language patterns rather than genuinely understand what we say. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago

Quote authenticity verification history

Quote authenticity comments

AI Verified Verified on the WBUR/On Point transcript at the provided URL, published February 11, 2026. The transcript attributes the passage to MELANIE MITCHELL and contains the exact wording with only an omitted middle segment: “And language models are passive. They're fed all this text, they predict the next word. ... It's only the world of language.” The stored author, date, source URL, and quote are correct. ([wbur.org](https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026/02/11/brainwaves-artificial-intelligence-human-behavior)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
replying to Melanie Mitchell