[jillesvangurp]

If you've ever had a conversation with a toddler, they do sound a bit like stochastic parrots. It takes us a while to be able to talk coherently. The learning process in schools involves a lot of repetition. From learning the abc to mastering calculus.

[sigmoid10]

Toddlers are just learning the building blocks of language. You could make the same statement about any new skill. However, at some point, most humans gain the ability to take two concepts they have heard about before and create a third concept that they have never encountered. You can also get that with artificial neural networks, but it is fundamentally impossible with n-grams.

[naasking]

> most humans gain the ability to take two concepts they have heard about before and create a third concept that they have never encountered.

You can ask LLMs to generate poems on any topic in the style of specific authors. That's a rudimentary version of what you're describing.

[PaulHoule]

n-grams will be able to figure out

   4 + 5 = 9

or

   1729 is a taxicab number

if those phrases are in the database but not

   4 + 05 = 9

   5 + 4 = 9

   11 + 3 = 14

   48988659276962496 is a taxicab number

if those are not in the database.