[zenburnmyface]

meh. I feel this is just a linguistic shortcut, similar to how _trained_ biologists can talk about a species or organism evolving some trait. Of course the organism isn't _really_ evolving with any goal in mind, but that's clear to the speaker and audience. Whether or not LLMs understand (very unlikely), it's clear what we mean by an LLM "understanding": has the context + prior training to make reasonable predictions. But no one wants to write that each time.

[yusina]

That's an interesting take and in fact one I could get behind.

But I'm afraid that most folks using the term mean it more literally than you describe.

[philistine]

Exactly. The whole point of all the LLM companies is to get grandma to use it. If you say understand about a technology with the desired appeal of Facebook, then you’re talking to everyone and words matter extra hard.