Agreed that LLMs don't become extractive on their own. Companies just choose that path when opacity is more profitable than usefulness.

I think the real skill is handling conflict in real life though， where we're constantly navigating and accommodating different viewpoints.

I'm not sure we should romanticize "handling conflict in real life" as the ultimate skill.

Pay cuts can be worth it, but don't choose based purely on the story, choose based on the people, incentives, and actual work you'll be doing.