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Comment by Emily M. Bender

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Linguist; AI critic
That language models are modeling just the form [...] that's not the same thing as meaning. And they don't have access to the meaning.
AI Verified source (Apr 28, 2026)
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Policy proposals and claims
AIs understand
votes Against
Statement relation verification history AI Verified

Statement relation comments

AI Verified The quote clearly rejects the idea that AIs understand what we say: it says language models capture only form, not meaning, and 'don't have access to the meaning,' which implies they do not understand language. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
Vote inference verification history AI Verified

Vote answer comments

AI Verified The quote says language models are "just" modeling form, "not the same thing as meaning," and "don't have access to the meaning," which strongly implies they do not understand what we say. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago

Quote authenticity verification history

Quote authenticity comments

AI Verified Verified: the Buzzsprout episode page itself contains the transcript, and line 140 attributes the full sentence to Emily M. Bender; the stored excerpt is a faithful omission using [...]. The same page lists the episode date as April 28, 2026 at line 27, so the stored author, date, source URL, and content are consistent. ([buzzsprout.com](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes/19087169-there-s-no-ghost-in-the-machine-with-carmen-maria-machado-2026-04-13)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
replying to Emily M. Bender