Disclaimer: I feel that your post is overly angry and reactive, but I would like to have meaningful discourse about it, and not just talk past each-other with downvotes.
So with that said, what if we started from a position where I accept you are correct about the exploitation stuff, and went from there?
Do you see a way back from where we are now? I don't. The genie is out the bottle, and depending on your view, that means "big tech" has won again. So what do we do? Do you think LLMs are useless, or are they not useless? Will they be useless in the future? Do you think they will be an empowering tool, or one that disempowers?
> Can a machine translate prose?
Maybe not now, but can it in the future? I'm going to guess yes. So of what use is arguing that it is rubbish because it can't translate prose now?
This is like asking me if steam power was a force for good, or the combustion engine, or computers. The answer is yes and no, but the more important point is that innovation and progress is inevitable. We lead vastly better lives than people 100 years ago. Why? Because of innovation.
I use LLM code completion in my IDE, and it is fairly useful, but not yet ideal. I use it all the time to ask technical questions rather than searching documentation first. It is extremely helpful for that task, and most of the time is correct - I always double check after it points me in the right direction.
I see a path where AI leads to the destruction of humanity, but it could equally lead to a post scarcity utopia.
You are being completely dogmatic in you view, and I can understand. If you truly believe AI is a force for evil, then it makes sense for you to rage against it. But keep in mind, no-one knows yet, and be open to the possibility that you're wrong.
So with that said, what if we started from a position where I accept you are correct about the exploitation stuff, and went from there?
Do you see a way back from where we are now? I don't. The genie is out the bottle, and depending on your view, that means "big tech" has won again. So what do we do? Do you think LLMs are useless, or are they not useless? Will they be useless in the future? Do you think they will be an empowering tool, or one that disempowers?
> Can a machine translate prose?
Maybe not now, but can it in the future? I'm going to guess yes. So of what use is arguing that it is rubbish because it can't translate prose now?