I've started to think of LLMs as not so much AI as collective intelligence. An LLM aggregates a huge amount of human-generated information and thinking into one convenient semi-intelligent entity, without doing much really original thinking of its own (so far).

But this alone is potentially profound. Better ways to be collectively smarter could itself accelerate change. Vernor Vinge's famous essay "The Coming Technological Singularity" wasn't just about AI; he also suggested collective intelligence as a way the singularity could happen.

https://edoras.sdsu.edu/~vinge/misc/singularity.html