(Washington Post via MSN) – Are AI chatbots revolutionary technologies that herald the dawn of a new era of thinking machines? Or are they just “stochastic parrots,” as the linguist Emily M. Bender memorably put it — digital mimics programmed to feign intelligence but incapable of possessing it?

A brainy new book by a cognitive neuroscientist at Oxford dives into that question. His answer turns out to be less interesting than the lively journey that leads there. (Read More)