> These examples add up to something bigger. As AI goes mainstream, it will remove one of the most enduring distortions in modern capitalism: the information advantages that sellers, service providers and intermediaries enjoy over consumers. When everyone has a genius in their pocket, they will be less vulnerable to mis-selling—benefiting them and improving overall economic efficiency. The “rip-off economy”, in which firms profit from opacity, confusion or inertia, is meeting its match.
Except that LLMs are not "a genius in your pocket." They'll definitely give you an answer, whether it's good or correct, who knows.
It doesn't need to be reliable here to have the described effect. Instead, all it needs to do is point users in the right direction, which LLMs are usually quite good at. I often describe to one something that feels like it should exist, and then it can come back with the specific obscure name for exactly that thing. When it doesn't have an accurate answer, all I've lost is a few minutes. It just needs to give a vaguely useful direction most of the time.
Except that LLMs are not "a genius in your pocket." They'll definitely give you an answer, whether it's good or correct, who knows.