Next-Token Predictor Is An AI's Job, Not Its Species (14 minute read)

Overemphasizing next-token prediction is a confusion of levels. On the levels where AI is a next-token predictor, humans are also next-token predictors. On the levels where humans are not next-token predictors, AI isn't one either. While AI was shaped by next-token prediction, the inside of its thoughts probably looks like a world-model, the same as a human's.