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Alfredo Vannacci

University of Florence - Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA

Viale Pieraccini 6

Florence, FI 50139

Italy

SCHOLARLY PAPERS

3

DOWNLOADS

83

TOTAL CITATIONS

0

Ideas:
“  Working on a series of connected papers on structural illusions generated by large language models (LLMs): the epistemic illusion (conflation of syntactic plausibility with truth), the phenomenal illusion (conflation of simulated affect with subjective experience), and the moral illusion (unwarranted attribution of normative competence). The argument is that these illusions are architectural properties of LLMs, rooted in the disjunction between stochastic core and abductive appearance, rather than correctable defects. Applications to clinical medicine and AI governance are under development.  ”

Scholarly Papers (3)

1.

The Epistemic Illusion of Large Language Models

Number of pages: 15 Posted: 04 May 2026
Alfredo Vannacci
University of Florence - Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA
Downloads 47 (1,304,549)

Abstract:

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2.

The Phenomenal Illusion of LLMs: Consciousness, Linguistic Zombies, and the Limits of Discursive Plausibility

Number of pages: 53 Posted: 13 May 2026
Alfredo Vannacci
University of Florence - Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA
Downloads 23 (1,518,554)

Abstract:

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large language models, consciousness, anthropomorphism

3.

No Grounding, No Belief: The Structural Roots of Epistemic Failure in Large Language Models

Number of pages: 7 Posted: 06 Jun 2026
Alfredo Vannacci
University of Florence - Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA
Downloads 13

Abstract:

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Large Language Models, Symbol Grounding, Belief Attribution, Theory of Mind, Epistemic Illusion, AI Deployment