I suspect that the so many people use AI to generate content or funny pictures outside of work argument could be true, but I know many people and only one of them does (though I can't say the last time he talked about it, I suspect the novelty wore off). I am starting to think the use of LLMs and the funding are equally circular. Computing had a similar problem in the 80's. It wasn't until high quality video games and social media came around that people really used them outside of a professional context. If big AI really wants this to take off they need to find something other than the equivalent of "you can store recipes on it" to try to sell the technology. Not everyone is a developer or content creator.

that millions of ppl find ai sites titillating is unsurprising; millions visit pron sites and "interact" with them too.

the output is trash: recycled memes, deep-fakes, propaganda, cybercrime. the harm-to-benefit ratio is wildly awful -- not because the technology has poor potential, but because our execution is awful.