We're on the same page about the problem, I think. And as I said in my original comment, there are absolutely reasonable applications for LLMs, they just won't pay back the investments chucked into the research quick enough. So we get instead our current "AI" moment.
Now, as a counterpoint to your argument about black and white positions — I see a lot of people filling the gray areas with what is essentially whataboutism:
- "The next model will be much better"
- "People said the same thing about the internet"
- "Sure it sucks and make stuff up, but it's good enough for me"
- "You can't stop progress"...
In that context, I think it's important to take a black and white stance, staying off that slippery slop(e) of bad faith arguments. "AI" as it is being marketed to us is bullshit, and needs to stop.
But once that bubble is burst (and it will one way or another), research needs to continue in a more focused manner into the fields where LLMs can actually make a positive difference (hint: it's neither search engines or your operating system).