Are we heading to the (distant) future where to make progress in any field you have to spend big $$$ to train a model?
We are already there. Machine learning is the flavor of A.I. that keeps business barriers of entry high. If we had invested in symbolic A.I., things would be different. A similar thing happens with programming language flavors. PHP lowers barriers of entry so it is discredited by the incumbents.
Excluding participation in having the time and resources available to overcome the initial inertia required to become productive is a form of opportunity and earning segregation.
Despite having a background in your tech, there is little more if satisfying than people experiencing putting tech to work for them, rather than the other way around or being dependent on others.