I don't think he is downplaying the effectiveness of what you can do with the current models. Rather, he's in a milieu (LessWrong), which is laser-focused on "transformative" AI, AGI, and ASI.
Current AI is clearly economically valuable, but if we freeze everything at the capabilities it has today it is also clearly not going to result in mass transformation of the economy from "basically being about humans working" to "humans are irrelevant to the economy." Lots of LW people believe that in the next 2-5 years humans will become irrelevant to the economy. He's arguing against that belief.
Current AI is clearly economically valuable, but if we freeze everything at the capabilities it has today it is also clearly not going to result in mass transformation of the economy from "basically being about humans working" to "humans are irrelevant to the economy." Lots of LW people believe that in the next 2-5 years humans will become irrelevant to the economy. He's arguing against that belief.