In my mind, sentient is one element of the definition of intelligence. My understanding of how LLMs work means an LLM will never be capable of understanding its

In my mind, sentient is one element of the definition of intelligence. My understanding of how LLMs work means an LLM will never be capable of understanding its own output. It will never be able to ponder. IMO the distinction is an important one. If a machine can be made sentient, that would be a milestone in understanding the creation of life and understanding humanity itself. As well as raising ethical issues concerning any distinction[s] between sentient machines and animals. The distinction is also important for the future of LLMs. If a machine can never become sentient, then that places likely limits on the power of the nature of its "intelligence". As I stated in my opening, my own definition of intelligence requires sentience at its core. Anything without sentience is nothing more than a sophisticated mathematical lookup formula piecing together strands of data in a logical manner. Incredibly powerful, but ultimately limited - in comparison to what a sentient machine could do.