[Terr_]

> Well... ideas are actually encoded (to some degree) in the words in the training data. So when they synthesize new text, they are, to a degree, synthesizing new ideas.

I don't think that follows: Manipulating a (lossy, imperfect) encoding [0] isn't the same as manipulating the thing it was intended to evoke.

If it is true, then... Well, it's not true in the same way anybody is excited about, because it means "synthesizing new ideas" is something we've been able to do for many decades and which you can easily script up right now at home [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encoding_(semiotics)

[1] https://benhoyt.com/writings/markov-chain/