Let's break this one down:
> By your definition of what makes 3.5 and similar LLMs "intelligent", an online interactive encyclopedia must be smart too. It obviously "knows" lots of stuff no one human being does. The big addition with these LLMs is the programmed ability to synthesize retrieved information into plausibly human-like conversation. Well damn, skynet must be here!
> You're forgetting that there's no entirely self-directed agency or minimal sense of self behind any of this, and hand waving aside, no evidence whatsoever of the sentience they're necessary ingredients of. The dumbest, most uneducated semi-adult human can fully self direct in their own unpredictable ways to do all kinds of things that no GPT manifestation is capable of in any way. This is obvious.
1. What interactive encyclopedia? I don't know of any that are even remotely like an LLM.
2. LLMs were not given the "programmed ability to synthesize retrieved information into plausibly human-like conversation", they learned it from human conversation.
3. I'm not "forgetting" the question of self-directed agency or sense of self or sentience, I dispute they're necessary. What seems to matter to me for almost every question[0] is the capabilities, not any inner experience they may or may not have.
3a. Define "self-directed agency".
3b. Define "sense of self".
3c. Define "sentience".
4. Re "The dumbest, most uneducated semi-adult human" — that's remarkably brash of you, so I'll hold you to it: within the specific domain of "written text"[1], name one task that at least half of 18 year old humans with IQ 85 (by definition 15.9% of the population have lower) can do, that GPT-4 [2] can't do.
(There may or may not be such a task, I don't know; the challenge remains, as you seem to think this is too obvious to have bothered citing anything).
[0] exceptions: "should they have rights" and "does a mind upload count as a way to cheat death", neither of which matters in the context of the linked OpenAI challenge etc.
[1] 3.5 is not even trying to be anything more than that!
[2] you did write "no GPT manifestation is capable of in any way" so I feel justified in this case, even though that would otherwise be a goalpost-shift.