I think this "refusal to answer" thing is so overblown. I have been using this technology every day for over two years now and have not one single time run into this.
You might be right. From my experience, it depends. The edgier your exploration, the more that can happen.
It's important to note that not everyone abide by the same morals. And a narrowly constrained model may end up refusing genuine inquiries just because.
In any case, if anything, this is a small 'but'. OP's point is the gold nugget here. That is, LLMs allowing exploring subjects without the fear of being judged for one's natural curiosity.
Yeah, I'm in no way claiming that this isn't a thing, or even that it isn't a problem.
But it isn't a problem for most people. The kind of edgelords that run into this are overrepresented on internet forums, including HN, but it's actually a pretty small group of people.
The 'but' in that lies with how much freedom is given to the LLM. If constrained, its refusal to answer may become a somewhat triggering possibility.