‘ELIZA’’s Rules vs. GPT’’s Weights: The Same Symbol Manipulation, Just Bigger’

ELIZA was a parrot with rules – GPT is a chameleon with probabilities. Yet both are symbolic manipulators without true understanding.
The term “Artificial Intelligence” suggests thinking, awareness, and understanding.
But models like GPT are merely statistical pattern completers – they understand nothing.
Statistics ≠ Thinking
GPT doesn’t choose the next word because it makes sense, but because it is likely.
What it produces is linguistic surface without depth – impressive, but hollow.
Both ELIZA (1966) and GPT-4 (2023) are based on symbol processing without meaning.
The illusion comes from plausible language – not from comprehension.