Which is exactly what makes them a good comparison, IMO. They are arguably smarter than dogs with about two fifths as many neurons. A shorter lifespan, faster breeding and many more threats has made them better.

The point I am getting to elliptically is that larger models aren't necessarily the solution. They are one solution pathway.

It is fully possible (I think actually likely) that the ultimately successful path for LLMs will emerge from the pressure of keeping them small, not making them large. Very small, domain specific models could well outperform large models in their domains, and they might even show that domain specialisation is not necessarily much of a limitation, just a useful impetus to stay small. Like how rats can drive those little cars.

(I think the frontier models are potentially already too big. Can't prove it or even close to it, but it feels like this is going to be a story.)