> Every critique of AI assumes to some degree that contemporary implementations will not, or cannot, be improved upon.

That is too reductive and simply not true. Contemporary critiques of AI include that they waste precious resources (such as water and energy) and accelerate bad environmental and societal outcomes (such as climate change, the spread of misinformation, loss of expertise), among others. Critiques go far beyond “hur dur, LLM can’t code good”, and those problems are both serious and urgent. Keep sweeping critiques under the rug because “they’ll be solved in the next five years” (eternally away) and it may be too late. Critiques have to take into account the now and the very real repercussions already happening.

Agreed. I find LLMs incredibly useful for my work and I'm amazed at what they can do.

But I'm really worried that the benefits are very localized, and that the externalized costs are vast, and the damage and potential damage isn't being addressed. I think that they could be one of the greatest ever drivers of inequality as a privileged few profit at the expense of the many.

Any debates seem neglect this as they veer off into AGI Skynet fantasy land damage rather than grounded real world damage. This seems to be deliberate distraction.