About whether LLMs truly understand things or can invent things the way humans do.
Has this happened?
Yes 37 (31%)Not sure 42 (35%)No 42 (35%)
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?
About whether LLMs truly understand things or can invent things the way humans do.
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Ok, I feel this conversation is not going anywhere. If I see a single example of an LLM generating new theories then I will immediately change my mind. I have yet to see this.
Most humans are not capable of inventing things, you're right, but humans in aggregate are. We are comparing LLMs to "humans" here, not to "a human". There are no examples of LLMs doing this. Maybe in a couple of years, who knows.