For many people, the answer to 1 is yes. You maybe happy with our future where we putter around aimlessly as consumers, but some people want to live in a world where they can at least try to do something that matters. Virtually every professional mathematician is motivated by personally making a permanent contribution to human knowledge, no matter how small.

I understand that sentiment, but I don't think it really counts if the only reason you were able to do something first is that others were forbidden from using an AI that would have done it faster.