Does or could ChatGPT understand text?
Summary
A philosophical discussion debating whether ChatGPT can understand text, centering on the distinction between physical electronic signals and symbolic information.
Key quotes
The only place text exists is on user keyboards and display screens. Everything else is electromagnetic radiation... and electrons.
ChatGPT never gets the text questions online users type. All it gets is electrons.
The thread features a user arguing that AI cannot understand text because it only processes electrons rather than visual shapes. Respondents critique this as a category mistake, distinguishing between physical substrates and informational content.