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They can't speak English like a human, but they both can understand a good deal of English, and they both can speak in their own ways (and understand the speaking of others).
I think the key thing about these LLMs is that they upend the notion that speaking requires thinking/understanding/intelligence.
They can "speak", if you mean emit coherent sentences and paragraphs, really well. But there is no understanding of anything, nor thinking, nor what most people would understand as intelligence behind that speaking.
I think that is probably new. I can't think of anything that could speak on this level, and yet be completely and obviously (if you give it like, an hour of back and forth conversation) devoid of intelligence or thinking.
I think that's what makes people have fantastical notions about how intelligent or useful LLMs are. We're conditioned by the entirety of human history to equate such high-quality "speech" with intelligence.
Now we've developed a slime mold that can write novels. But I think human society will adapt quickly, and recalibrate that association.
