>can't conceive of a use of this which is beneficial beyond a marginal improvement in content consumption

AlphaFold is having a big influence in medical research. There's more to AI than chatbots.

It's quite interesting the work they are doing there now - article on it https://www.labiotech.eu/in-depth/alpha-fold-3-drug-discover... I've got a personal interest because my sister has ALS and I think an in silico breakthrough is the only thing that could fix that before her dying.