I'm completely mesmerized by the AI/ChatGPT revolution that really hasn't taken complete form yet.

Me too, though I think it may have temporarily plateaued in capability, with efforts shifting to cost and power reductions for a while. But that's ok. It will be years before we figure out how to make full use of the things that are already possible.

Photo/video/music generation are sources of debate about originality, but just about everything else is better when AI is injected in the right way.

I agree with this, too. In almost every field, I think the best output comes from a combination of human and machine. Even Billy Joel used AI in a recent video. The question is when to use AI, not whether.

I have a friend who is convinced that I can learn python, 100% online, from GPT. I'm not sure of that but wouldn't be surprised.

It's definitely possible. Moreover, you can be productive with python (or any language) while learning it. That's what I'm doing with JavaScript. The important skill now is problem-solving, and the language almost doesn't matter. If we can describe the solution clearly in English, the machine will manage the details of the language. This even includes performance optimization.