What other terms should he be trying to think in? He was asked about his machine! And he understood the question perfectly well. The asker thought his machine is some kind of Victorian ChatGPT that enters a dialogue with the user.

I mean, imagine the Wright brothers: "Does your machine need to build a nest to lay its eggs? Does it migrate in the winter?". What are they supposed to think, no, the question makes sense because our machine flies like a bird so it should be expected to behave like a bird in other ways also?