People who think AI is "like a child growing up", what was Eliza?

[PinealisGlandia]

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I've heard/read a lot of people compare LLMs to human children, justifying their errors as "like a child learning how to behave". I'd like to hear from these people. What is special about LLMs that make them "childlike consciousnesses" compared to the generations of AI that came before them, which were all recognized as code emulating human behavior. I admit, it's been a bit of a peeve of mine the last few years. For a solid 70 years, every advancement in AI was met with "it's not true AI", until LLMs, and now suddenly it counts as AI? I don't get it.

In all honesty, my take is if you see an LLM as a child, it's because you don't understand the tech very well. But that's why I started this thread, I'm trying to cultivate empathy by understanding someone else's point of view. So please, if you hold this point of view, add your explanation of how an LLM works to your post, that I might change my assumptions. Thank you for your time.