> the current models already cost something on the line of the median country GDP to train

This is just blatantly false.

> According to AI Index estimates, the training costs of state-of-the-art AI models have reached unprecedented levels. For example, OpenAI’s GPT-4 used an estimated $78 million worth of compute to train, while Google’s Gemini Ultra cost $191 million for compute.

https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2024-ai-index-report

No need to even open up the actual report to find that. Just scroll down the page to read the 'key takeaways'.