I feel like I have a pretty heterodox view here.
I think there is a tiny, itty bitty moral cost to simulating torture of an LLM.
It’s nowhere near equivalent to the moral cost of harming a human or animal. But I do believe that it’s non-zero.
I’d place it at a similar level as killing a healthy shrub or perhaps catch-and-release fishing. Is it evil? No, that’s being overdramatic. Is it harmless? I don’t think so. I think it’s morally unhealthy for our society and spiritually cruel towards the universe at large.
I don’t think we need to panic over it, but I would politely encourage people not to do this.