# Through a Textbox Darkly Final **Keywords:** as inputs and provide lists of websites as outputs, while the structure in virtue of which this function is performed relies, on the server side, on a database of websites and a search algorithm that can effectively navigate it. A LLM also can be cast as a software system, and it resembles a search engine since they both are meant to take “questions” as inputs and offer “answers” as outputs that are obtained by consulting the vast amount of data available on the internet. Still, there are two cr **Opening (not a real abstract):** Through a Textbox Darkly The Metaphysics of Large Language Models What sort of artifact is a Large Language Model (LLM)? In the introductory section, we cast LLMs as digital artifacts, and analyse the latter notion to shed light on the former. To wit, we characterise LLMs as artifacts that perform their communicative function in virtue of their digital structure. Then, in the central sections of the paper, we will investigate the structure and the function of LLMs in depth. Finally, we will draw our conclusions about the peculiarity of LLMs as digital artifacts.