What are attention mechanisms of not being aware of what it has said so it can inform what it is about to say? Ultimately, I think people saying these generative models aren't really "intelligent" boils down to deciding they don't like the impact these things are having and are going to have on our society and characterizing them as a fancy statistical curve lets people short circuit that much harder conversation.

This seems to have descended into a debate on “what is consciousness”

I disagree, while I did go on a tangent there with analyzing ChatGPT capabilities, my ultimate argument was that we shouldn't even be discussing the consciousness topic at all. When deciding whether Data has AI or natural intelligence we only need to look at the source of his intelligence; it was man-made, therefore any painting Data produces is "AI art", because Data only has AI, despite having capabilities on par or even exceeding those of a human.

To be honest, I did take it as being a little condescending, but it doesn't really matter. All I wish is to have a discussion, and expand our knowledge in the process.