In this metaphor, OpenAI/Anthropic literally started the escalator.

.. what exactly depends on who started the escalator? My comment was in support of the argument that the word "let" does not imply agency on the part of the object in a sentence. Does the semantics of the word "let" depend on who started the escalator??

If there is an escalator that is known for killing every 1000's person using it then the operator who started it is more guilty than the folks using it for those deaths, don't you think?

I made no argument about guilt. I made an argument about the semantics of the word "let".

Escalators do not start themselves. There is power, and a switch of some sort.