Jack Clark calls 'stochastic parrot' a cognitive virus that blinded AI risk experts for years
arvindsatya1 · x · 2026-09-22
Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic, argues the "stochastic parrot" framing was a mimetically-fit cognitive virus (2021-2025) that temporarily blinded many talented people to the nature of AI progress, burning crucial years for thinking through the response.
Margaret Mitchell, an author of the original paper, pushed back: recognizing LLMs as stochastic parrots is useful for pinpointing problems and solutions, and she shared her thread on mitigation approaches. The debate over LLM nature and AI risk strategy continues.
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