Authors respond to critiques on quantum features in human and AI language
Reply to comments arXiv:2512.07881 and arXiv:2601.06104 on quantum structure in human and AI-generated language
Computation and Language
Summary
This paper is a reply to comments about earlier studies that explored quantum-like statistical patterns in human and AI-generated language. The authors clarify their experimental methods with language models and explain why certain quantum concepts, like entanglement and contextuality, are relevant. They also address misunderstandings about their data analysis and correct a minor error that doesn't affect their key findings. Overall, they defend their approach to studying language through ideas borrowed from quantum physics.
What this means in practice
- •For natural language processing engineers: Incorporate quantum-inspired statistical checks into language model analysis to better understand language feature correlations.
- •For quantum computing developers: Use insights from quantum-like structures in language to design novel algorithms that handle contextual data more effectively.
A position paper. It proposes an approach and reports no results.
Authors
Massimiliano Sassoli de Bianchi, Roberto Leporini
Abstract
We reply to the comments by M. Sienicki and K. Sienicki (arXiv:2512.07881) and by K. Sienicki (arXiv:2601.06104) on our work on quantum-mechanical statistics in human language (arXiv:2407.14924) and on quantum structure in AI-generated language (arXiv:2511.21731). We thank the authors for their careful reading and address what we consider to be the main points of criticism: the exploratory nature of the protocol used in the experiments with large language models; the role of marginal-law violations, and of the Contextuality-by-Default criterion, in the identification of entanglement; the limited diagnostic value of a Bose-Einstein fit taken in isolation; the meaning of assigning the lowest energy levels to the most frequent words; and the relation between the vector spaces used by LLMs and quantum state spaces. We also correct a typographical error in Table 3 of arXiv:2511.21731, which does not affect the reported CHSH value.