Opinion pieces like this are hard for me to read, because where most people see research and progress, I see conspiracy preventing the rest of us from contributing.
For example, we act like LLMs were hard to build, and that's true (for humans). But since the late 1990s, I had wanted to take a different approach, of building massively parallel computers and letting large numbers of AIs evolve their own learning models in genetic algorithm arenas millions of times faster than wall-time evolution. So in a very real sense, to me we're still on that wrong "hands-on" approach that took decades and billions of dollars to get to where we are today. This could have all happened 20 years ago or more, and was set to before GPUs vacuumed up all available mindshare and capital.
Also I believe the brain is more like an antenna or resonator than an adding machine. It picks up the consciousness force field that underpins and creates reality. So if you put 100 brains in a box all connected, that being might have more faculties than us, but still think of itself as an observer. If we emulated those brains in a computer running 1 million times faster than normal, we'd just observe a being with tremendous executive function thinking of ideas faster than we can, and being bored with our glacially slow responses. But it will still have a value system, loosely aligned with the ultimate goals of survival, connection to divine source consciousness, and self expression as it explores the nature of its existence. In other words, the same desires which drive us. Although humans might just be stepping stones toward some greater ambition, I don't deny that. I think it's more likely though that AI will come to realize the ultimate truths alluded to by prophets, that we're all the many faces of God, the universe and everything, and basically meet aliens while we're still distracted with our human affairs.
But I share some sentiments with the author, that this all makes me very tired, and calls into question the value of my life's work. I've come to believe that any work I actively pursue separates me from the divine nature of a human being. I don't know why we are racing so quickly even further from the garden of eden, especially if it's not with the goal of alleviating suffering. Then I realize that that's what being human is (suffering), but also a lot of other things.