[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-151087-en":3,"doc-seo-151087-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},151087,1374391974564,"Clementine","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/14000253aa45c000a9e?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779874745381141002",8,"Research & Report","No Epistemic Respect for Bullshit Machines or LLMs - 14 (9)","The paper examines whether Large Language Models (LLMs) and chatbots can be treated as artificial epistemic authorities. Building on prior discussion that proposes revising the standard view to accommodate LLMs, it develops two arguments against granting such status. First, if LLMs function as bullshit machines, their outputs should not merit epistemic respect. Second, if LLMs cannot take responsibility or be held accountable, they likewise cannot be epistemic authorities.","[http://social-epistemology.com](http://social-epistemology.com)  \nISSN: 2471-9560  \nNo Epistemic Respect for Bullshit Machines or LLMs  \nMoti Mizrahi, Florida Institute of Technology, [mmizrahi@fit.edu](mmizrahi@fit.edu)  \nMizrahi, Moti. 2025.“No Epistemic Respect for Bullshit Machines or LLMs.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 14 (9): 138–146. [https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-amy](https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-amy).  \n14 (9): 138–146. 2025.  \n[https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-amy](https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-amy)  \nAbstract  \nThe excitement about Large Language Models (LLMs) has led some to consider the possibility that they could be artificial epistemic authorities. For instance, after considering arguments for and against granting LLMs the  \nstatus of epistemic authorities, Hauswald (2025) argues that the standard  \nview of epistemic authorities should be revised to accommodate LLMs as epistemic authorities. This paper aims to contribute to the literature on LLMor chatbot epistemology by sketching two arguments against granting LLMs the status of epistemic authorities. According to the first argument, if LLMs are bullshit machines, then they should not be granted the status of epistemic authorities that are worthy of our epistemic respect. According to the second argument, ifLLMs cannot take responsibility and be held accountable for  \ntheir outputs, then they should not be granted the status of epistemic  \nauthorities that are worthy of our epistemic respect.  \n1. Introduction  \nThe recent excitement about Large Language Models (LLMs) and chatbots, such as ChatGPT,1 has led some to consider the possibility that these systems could be artificial epistemic authorities. For instance, after considering arguments for and against granting LLMs the status of epistemic authorities, Hauswald (2025) argues that the standard view of epistemic authorities should be revised to accommodate LLMs as epistemic authorities.2  \nAn argument against granting LLMs the status of epistemic authorities, as discussed by Hauswald (2025), goes something like this. To be an epistemic authority in some domain of expertise is to know or understand much more about that domain than novices do. Since LLMs neither know nor understand, it follows that they cannot be epistemic authorities. LLMs neither know nor understand because they lack intentional states or propositional attitudes, such as belief, which are necessary for having knowledge or understanding.  \nAfter discussing this argument against granting LLMs the status of epistemic authorities, Hauswald (2025) identifies several similarities between the relationships that novices have with human epistemic authorities and the relationships that users have with LLMs. He thinks that these structural similarities pose a dilemma, and he offers the following ways out: (a) deny LLMs the status of epistemic authorities, (b) grant that LLMs have intentional states or propositional attitudes, or (c) modify the standard view of epistemic authorities to accommodate LLMs.  \nHauswald (2025, 7) opts for (c) and proposes the following account, which allows for granting LLMs the status of epistemic authorities:  \n1 On AI hype and AI hyping, see Duarte et al. (2024) and Sloane, Danks, and Moss (2024), respectively.  \n2 See also He and Yang (2025) for a “Reidian View of Artificial Testimony”(RVAT) according to which “A testimonial belief on the basis of an artificial statement is prima facie justified if the testifier of the statement robustly performs the artificial propensity of veracity and the artificial propensity of cautiousness.”  \nM. Mizrahi  \nTo epistemically defer to an [LLM] is to take suitable facts about it–its outputs–as indicators for the truth of certain propositions that are strong enough for the user to adopt the doxastic attitude that the output suggests. These outputs are suitable truth indicators insofar as they bear a reliable relationship to the truth values of those propositions. And access to these outputs will typically","cbCaisnKHFDgkk1p","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisnKHFDgkk1p","pdf",421940,1,10,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Epistemic authority and artificial testimony\n# LLMs are Bullshit Machines\n## Reliability concerns","[{\"question\":\"What question does the paper address about LLMs?\",\"answer\":\"Whether LLMs and chatbots should be granted the status of artificial epistemic authorities worthy of epistemic respect.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the first argument against granting epistemic authority to LLMs?\",\"answer\":\"If LLMs are bullshit machines and their outputs are bullshit, then the outputs cannot reliably support epistemic respect as indicators of truth.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the second argument against granting epistemic authority to LLMs?\",\"answer\":\"If LLMs cannot take responsibility and cannot be held accountable for their outputs, they should not be treated as epistemic authorities worthy of epistemic respect.\"}]","No Epistemic Respect for Bullshit Machines or LLMs - 14 (9) | PDF",1787832574,25,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"no-epistemic-respect-for-bullshit-machines-or-llms-14-9","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/no-epistemic-respect-for-bullshit-machines-or-llms-14-9/151087/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-04","2026-08-27",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What question does the paper address about LLMs?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"Whether LLMs and chatbots should be granted the status of artificial epistemic authorities worthy of epistemic respect.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"What is the first argument against granting epistemic authority to LLMs?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"If LLMs are bullshit machines and their outputs are bullshit, then the outputs cannot reliably support epistemic respect as indicators of truth.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"What is the second argument against granting epistemic authority to LLMs?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"If LLMs cannot take responsibility and cannot be held accountable for their outputs, they should not be treated as epistemic authorities worthy of epistemic respect.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,111,116,121,124,129,132,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":134},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]