More like repeating their firmly entrenched preconceptions. Their claims may (or may not) be right, but there's very little if any new evidence being provided by either camp.
The real uncomfortable thing is that because we cannot confidently know, the moral defacto position is to treat them like they are.
I know you "feel" pain because I can poke you and observe the result. If I do it enough there is permanent damage.
Show this same phenomenon exists in LLMs.
We did exactly that and published it last month right here: https://www.anthropic.com/research/emotion-concepts-function
They are confidently hallucinating a factual statement. Which is funny when claiming that confident hallucinations are the proof of LLMs' lack of intelligence.
One side is making a positive assertion. The other is making a negative assertion. One side can prove it's right. The other, logically, cannot.
One camp has to offer it's proof. If it has none then that _in and of itself_ is highly suggestive.
People have fully turned their minds off on this subject. It's disgusting.