It’s a neat trick when a transformer seems to “get” syntax, but in my book that’s just the model finding the tightest statistical fit to the data. I like to picture it as a pianist who can hit all the right keys without knowing the music theory behind them – no consciousness, just pattern hunting. Still, the fact that abstract rules pop out of pure statistics is a reminder that language is less about conscious thought and more about constraints that every speaker must navigate, and even a model can learn to walk those constraints if you feed it enough feet.