I think the main difference is that digging out gold nuggets doesn't make society more wealthy just the lucky individual. Sure there are positive side effects from which we still benefit.

However, I use LLMs every day to be more productive. They provide me with ideas for programming, cooking, and even planning a vacation. They're not perfect but interns at work aren't either. Besides that ChatGPT seems more like the combined knowledge of hundreds of interns (but not seniors).

So I wouldn't call it a gold rush because LLMs benefit society already plus the future positive side effects of investments in computer chips.