Have you considered the very practical importance of running specialized models for specialized tasks on common hardware (maybe a couple of CPU cores in a couple GB of RAM)?
Small models are just tools. Even many of them will make only a toolset. They don't evolve in AGI by themselves. But putting them together in a structure (brain) may result in something close. Like big smart calculator. It takes more to create a 'character' similar to, say, terminator.