I don't want to accelerate an arms race, and paying for access to GPT seems like a perfect way to be a raindrop in a dangerous flood. My current idea is to pay an equal amount monthly to Miri. I'll view it as the price being $40 per month with half going to AI safety research.
Is this indefensible? Let me know. GPT-4 is very useful to me personally and professionally, and familiarity of language models will also be useful if I have enough time to transition into an AI safety career, which I am strongly considering.
If it is a good idea, should we promote the offsetting strategy among people who are similarly conflicted?
Look up the evidence on the effectiveness of boycotts. My understanding is that they don't work. In particular, it seems unlikely to me that the alignment community (which is small) will have a meaningful impact on OpenAI's actual or perceived success.
Are you doing anything alignment related? The benefits to you (either in productivity or in keeping you informed) might massively outweigh the marginal benefits to OpenAI's bottom line.