A linear regression model isn’t an AI system.

The term AI didn’t lose its value - people just realized it doesn’t mean what they thought it meant. When a layperson hears “AI,” they usually think AGI, but while AGI is a type of AI, it’s not synonymous with the term.

The chess opponent on Atari is AI too. I think the issue is that when most people hear "intelligence," they immediately think of human-level or general intelligence. But an LLM - while intelligent - is only so in a very narrow sense, just like the chess opponent. One’s intelligence is limited to playing chess, and the other’s to generating natural-sounding language.

AI was never more than algorithms which could be argued to have some semblance of intelligence somewhere. It's sole purpose was marketing by scientists to get funding.

Since the 60s everything related to neural networks is classified as AI. LLMs are neural networks, therefore they fall under the same label.

What does history have to do with it? We’re talking about the definition of terms - and a machine learning system like an LLM clearly falls within the category of Artificial Intelligence. It’s an artificial system capable of performing a cognitive task that’s normally done by humans: generating language.