LLMs are not sentient in the same way a virus is on the borderline of not-life and life.

this comparison feels spot on to me

yes. they are incentivized to misinform in a particular direction- a malicious lie. to me that feels separate from the question of whether we Know What Truth Is, or how that knowledge/lack thereof gives us overlap or distinction between an LLM

perhaps the difference then is ur ability/willingness/compulsion to acknowledge this, behavior which seems to be anathema to LLMs/AI

the scissormen were moving slow last night i was awake in bed projecting an image of myself onto a bridge over the CT river where we did battle until i cleft them in twain