Mutually assured disruption: why LLMs change the game for child language acquisition research, and vice versa

Abstract

LLMs change the game for child language acquisition research, because they constitute an existence proof that – counter to most prevailing theoretical accounts – it is possible for learners to acquire a productive system of grammar solely from exposure to individual utterances, without the need for abstract grammatical rules or categories. Conversely, LLM development can benefit from insights from child language research.