Comment by HarHarVeryFunny

Similar in the sense of being mechanical (no homunculus or soul!) and predictive, but different in terms of what's being predicted (auto-regressive vs external).

So, with the LLM all you have is the auto-regressive language prediction loop.

With animals you primarily have the external "what happens next" prediction loop, with these external-world fact-based predictions presumably also the basis of their thoughts (planning/reasoning), as well as behavior.

If it's a human animal who has learned language, then you additionally have an LLM-like auto-regressive language prediction loop, but now, unlike the LLM, biased (controlled) by these fact-based thoughts (as well as language-based thoughts).