[Rygian]

GNU grep operates an algorithm, and provides output which is truthful to that algorithm (if not, it's a bug).

An LLM operates a probabilistic process, and provides output which is statistically aligned with a model. Given an input sufficiently different from the training samples, the output is going to be wildly off of any intended result. There is no algorithm.

[oulipo2]

It is an algorithm... just a probabilistic one. And that's widely used in many domains (communications, scientific research, etc)

[IanCal]

Of course there's an algorithm! What nonsense is this that we're saying things with probability used somewhere inside them are no longer algorithms?

[Rygian]

What an LLM does is not an algorithm. It's called a heuristic.

To have an algorithm, you need to have a concrete way to show than an output is the correct or optimal one.

An LLM is satisfied by providing any random output that passes some subjective "this-does-not-seem-to-be-a-hallucination" test.