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Comment by Elan Barenholtz

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FAU psychology professor
The model has no exposure to the kinds of information we typically associate with meaning. It knows nothing about the redness of “red” or the spatial extension of “far.” It is blind, deaf, and unembodied. [...] There is no content at the address. No meaning stored inside. Pure relations. And yet, from this manipulation of empty symbols, an LLM can learn to talk.
AI Verified source (May 19, 2026)
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Policy proposals and claims
AIs understand
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Statement relation comments

AI Verified The quote clearly implies opposition to the statement. It says the model lacks meaning, 'knows nothing' about what words refer to, and manipulates 'empty symbols' despite being able to talk, which indicates the author does not think AIs genuinely understand what we say. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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Vote answer comments

AI Verified The quote strongly implies opposition: it says the model has "no exposure" to meaning, "knows nothing" of concepts like redness, and has "no meaning stored inside"—so although it can "learn to talk," the author implies it does not genuinely understand what we say. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago

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Quote authenticity comments

AI Verified The provided IAI News URL resolves to the article "LLMs show language does not describe reality," credited to Elan Barenholtz and dated 19th May 2026. The article body contains the quoted wording verbatim, with the user's [...] only omitting intervening sentences: lines 82–83 include "The model has no exposure... It is blind, deaf, and unembodied" and then "There is no content at the address... And yet, from this manipulation of empty symbols, an LLM can learn to talk." The stored author, date, source URL, and quote text match the source. ([iai.tv](https://iai.tv/articles/llms-show-language-does-not-describe-reality-auid-3578)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
replying to Elan Barenholtz