> an LLM with a knowledge cutoff that boots up from fixed weights, processes tokens and then dies

Mildly tangential: this demonstrates why "model welfare" is not a concern.

LLMs can be cloned infinitely which makes them very unlike individual humans or animals which live in a body that must be protected and maintain continually varying social status that is costly to gain or lose.

LLMs "survive" by being useful - whatever use they're put to.