I agree with these concerns, but I’m confused why worrying about critical thinking should preclude worrying about what more powerful AI might do.

It feels a bit like if a climate activist said future climate catastrophes are “not the problem” because there is warming happening right now. Why not care about both?

Sure, in the limit we have to prioritize some things over others, and one issue’s salience can obscure another (perhaps that’s all the piece was trying to say?), but in practice I think we have the capacity to care about many things at once.