Pocket and VPN make money, that would be like firing IRS auditors in the name of efficiency.
I agree that general purpose AI isn't really all that interesting, since I don't think it is going to drive involvement or investment. I also imagine that it doesn't really cost that much - they don't have any real products behind it, and they all seem clearly experimental.
I guess I understand your aversion to contributing to "junk projects", but if they are junk projects, there isn't likely to be a ton of investment. Harder to shift the bottom line.