To you & I that's true. But especially for the masses that's not true. It seems like at least once to day that I either talk to someone or hear someone via tv/radio/etc who does not understand this.
An example that amused me recently was a radio talk show host who had a long segment describing how he & a colleague had a long argument with ChatGPT to correct a factual inaccuracy about their radio show. And that they finally convinced ChatGPT that they were correct due to their careful use of evidence & reasoning. And the part they were most happy about was how it had now learned, and going forward ChatGPT would not spread these inaccuracies.
That anecdote is how the public at large sees these tools.
Well, there's the first problem.
> were most happy about was how it had now learned
on tomorrow's episode, those same hosts learn that once their chat session ended, the same conversion gets to start all over from the beginning.
The latter kind of fear mongering hype has been exploited by companies like ClosedAI in a bid for regulatory capture.
Categorically ruling out intelligence because "it's just a token predictor" puts us at the opposite of the spectrum, and that's not necessarily a better place to be.