"Publicly-funded team of reserchers" will still have non-scientist bosses to answer to. A multi-billion dollar research project will either have to have financial backing from governments or large corporations. And when a delegate goes to a politian or CEO to ask for millions of dollars in donation, you can bet your ass that they will want to know what will be the AI's "opinion" on their policies and ideologies.

A lot of people are already pissed off about ChatGPT having "wrong" opinions or "replacing workers." And with all the hysteria and controversy surrounding AI systems funding, AI research with small donations sounds almost impossible.