@feliks cognition is emergent from the adaptative self-modulation of a system's programming tailored to the external world
Sorry for the word-soup lol but yeah. In my eyes that's it. Adaptative change that allows an autonomous problem-solving system to evolve in a constantly changing environment. Evolution, basically.
Generative models SEEM like they are evolving but they're not self-improving, that's just human intelligence in RnD making better iterations of a TOOL.