To be honest, for a lot of people this is a good decision. AI is already better at cognition and research than a fairly good chunk of the population. If they start thinking at a reasonable level with the help of AI, we all will benefit. Obviously Grok isn’t the best choice but still probably better than what a lot of them would come up with on their own.

I’m going to assume you’re saying this in good faith. The problem with handing thinking over to a computer is not just about computers being worse thinkers, it is also about the fact that these computer systems are being conditioned to reflect the views of the organizations that created them. This creates a concentration of power issue as it’s another avenue to influence how people think, and it’s a pretty strong one at that if people are literally handing over their thinking. This problem is likely to get worse over time as selling this influence in the same way much of the internet sells ad space will likely be quite profitable, and we’re probably not seeing it as much now because AI companies are trying to get their LLMs integrated into society so people become dependent on them.

it is also about the fact that these computer systems are being conditioned to reflect the views of the organizations that created them

And people aren’t? Have you spoken with a Trump supporter recently? They are far more programmed than any modern AI engine. I’d take any modern AI programming them over whoever’s currently doing it.

I do agree with you that this will probably be a problem in the future, but for the time being, for those people at least, I do think it’s a net positive.