How LLMs Might Think

TL;DR

This paper argues that large language models (LLMs) may not think rationally but could engage in arational, associative thinking, suggesting a different perspective on their cognitive processes.

Contribution

It challenges the argument from rationality against LLMs thinking and proposes that they might think through associative, non-rational processes.

Findings

The argument from rationality does not conclusively prove LLMs do not think.

LLMs might have purely associative, arational minds.

If LLMs think, they likely do so in an associative manner.

Abstract

Do large language models (LLMs) think? Daniel Stoljar and Zhihe Vincent Zhang have recently developed an argument from rationality for the claim that LLMs do not think. We contend, however, that the argument from rationality not only falters, but leaves open an intriguing possibility: that LLMs engage only in arational, associative forms of thinking, and have purely associative minds. Our positive claim is that if LLMs think at all, they likely think precisely in this manner.