Limiting features in the public API aren't quite the same as limiting the technical readability of developing an artificial intelligence or consciousness.
Limiting public features will help a bit with concerns over how someone might use a public GPT API, but the technology advancements will be made either way and ultimately companies won't be able to gate keep who can use it with 100% accuracy. The boom for GPU hardware similarly is pushing us further down the road to AI development and all the moral and ethical questions that go along with it, even if AI companies were to keep use of their GPUs and models private entirely.
Limiting public features will help a bit with concerns over how someone might use a public GPT API, but the technology advancements will be made either way and ultimately companies won't be able to gate keep who can use it with 100% accuracy. The boom for GPU hardware similarly is pushing us further down the road to AI development and all the moral and ethical questions that go along with it, even if AI companies were to keep use of their GPUs and models private entirely.