The interesting question is of course if that applies to LLMs or not. Are they actually intelligent or do they just look intelligent (and do we even have the means to answer those questions)?
It's not an interesting question. It's pretty meaningless.
Are birds really flying or do they look like they are flying (perspective of the bee)?. Are planes really flying or do they look like they're flying ?
"Mimic Intelligence" is not a real distinction.
Nerds will also get hung up on this because they can’t stand the notion that any aspect of their job doesn’t require their immense intelligence.
For most contexts, “will this tool help me”’is a much more appropriate question. Anyone conflating the two is doing themselves a disservice.
I mean a power drill is also helping me a lot, without being intelligent.