> LLMs aren’t “democratising” anything.

They absolutely are. Anytime new knowledge or skills become widely available to everyone, that's a term used for it.

> There’s no democracy in being mostly beholden to a few companies which own the largest and most powerful models, who can cut you off at any time, jack up the prices to inaccessibility, or unilaterally change the terms of the deal.

None of that has anything to do with anything. There's competition between companies to keep prices low and accessibility high.

I think you are simply misunderstanding the word "democratic". It isn't just political. From MW:

> 3 : relating, appealing, or available to the broad masses of the people : designed for or liked by most people

Here, it's specifically about making things available to the broad masses of the people that wasn't before.

This isn't a matter of opinion. It's just the meaning of the word.