Adding to this, i think llms are just part of their game, they know well enough they aren’t accurate, but it plays into comments like this, where we’ll think an llm would make a smarter decision, but it’s just a smokescreen, they’re already looking at gaming the bots, musk trying to get grok to abide by his petty worldview is the most obvious ploy. But they’re already obfuscating sources of information as a matter of course, soon, we won’t know anything anymore, we’ll have to trust their machines.

I think their fixation on the machine is part accountability-laundering, part obfuscation as you say. They want a monopoly on not just information, but analysis, and breaking all information infrastructure that does not flow through their pet ideology robot is part of that.

I think they don't want to cut funding to math projects or engineering projects. They want to cut funding to research that goes against their politics. Cutting math research because "inequality" keyword is a bad look for them and just gives free ammo to their opposition. If they employed an LLM that wouldn't happen and they could still pursue their political goals.