I don't think there would be pressure to rush a new model out immediately when Gemini Ultra (the one which is supposed to be better than the current product) doesn't even have a release date yet.
Another perspective, wouldn’t it be reasonable to believe that the faster a technology is developed, the faster it will reach its theoretical upper limit of improvement (assuming there is one)?
To use your comparison as an example, mainframes took 40ish years to be replaced by personal computing and distributed systems. Whereas smartphones reached modern parity in 8-10 years since the original iPhone and have made more or less incremental changes since.
Granted those are hardware changes and this is software but I believe the point still stands.
Artificial intelligence creates a more compelling narrative. It’s the “us .vs. them” dynamic that humans are so fond of. Even when it isn’t an explicitly antagonistic relationship; an AI is still shown as an “other”.
Really when you think about it, in a good amount of stories humans might as well be augmented intelligences. We just aren’t making a point of them being different, or at odds with the general human population.
I think the human need to feel useful, or to produce something is more sociological than a base human need.
When/if that becomes an issue, if social rejection was not a consequence of not being productive more people would be okay with simply participating in things for their own sake.
For example, I don’t play Stardew Valley because I want to be the most elite virtual farmer.
Maybe we're already seeing this. Seems like people would rather join a cult than not feel useful. Taking handouts from the man... er... machine and free time for hobbies probably isn't going to do it.
Feeling useful could turn out to be part of basic human dignity.
But those people have generally marinated their entire lives in a background frame that usefulness == worth and (as a generalization) are under-equipped to generate meaning internally! It's not obvious to me that, say, the fifth generation after human labor becomes superfluous will be more vulnerable on this axis than we are now when there's tension and uncertainty about it.
(I'm sure plenty of people would happily jump in to question whether we'd make it five generations past that horizon, but that's not really the point I'm after here - let's assume we haven't Idiocracy'd/WALL-E'd ourselves to death.)
If they already had 4.5 and then did something else to make it “turbo” why not release 4.5 on the coattails of Gemini?