I think Tao finds it promising as a source of inspiration in the same sense that the ripples on the surface of a lake or a short walk in the woods can be mathem

I think Tao finds it promising as a source of inspiration in the same sense that the ripples on the surface of a lake or a short walk in the woods can be mathematically inspiring. It doesn’t say much about the actual content being produced; the more you already have going on in your head the more easily you ascribe meaning to meaninglessness. The point is that it’s got seemingly nothing to do with reasoning. That it can produce thought-stimulating paragraphs about any given topic doesn’t contradict that; chatting to something not much more sophisticated than Eliza (or even… yourself, in a mirror) could probably produce a similar effect. As for chatting about stuff, I’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT a bit for that kind of thing but find its output usually too vague. It can’t construct examples of things beyond the trivial/very standard ones that don’t say much, and that’s assuming it’s even getting it right which it often isn’t (it will insist on strange statements despite also admitting them to be false). It’s a good memory-jog for things you’ve half forgotten, but that’s about it.