knight, thanks to lack of knowledge I can't give you an the answer a biologist/virologist might give you. But a general one: When it comes to scientific studies, always look who funds them. When it comes to articles by scientists, always look at the organisations who funded the writer's work, what his connections are, before you accept what he writes about his or other's research as his real, scientific and unbiased opinion. This is quite obvious in the medical/pharmaceutical field, but does apply not only there. Of course scientists doing research in gain of function research claim all kinds of potential positive effects. They need funding!

Jim's answer is nice and positive - and surprisingly naïve (Maybe he simply is a too nice guy to see the dark sides - contrary to me :)

It helps to get some background about how gain of function research is related to the famous "Cleavage site" of SARS-CoV-2 and that the EcoHealth Alliance wrote a grant proposal for such research to DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (that was denied):

theintercept.com - Coronavirus research grant darpa

Regarding transparency it helps to know how dubious that the role of Anthony Fauci (and a whole group of world-famous virologists like Germany's own Christian Drosten) was:

theintercept.com - Covid origins gain of function research

If you dismiss "The Intercept" as source, what about "The Spectator", the oldest still existing English magazine?

thespectator.com - Funding gain function research biodefense fauci covid ebright

Who eg. says this (bold highlighting by me):

After 2001, virus research surged: In 1997 the government's biosecurity budget was $137 million; by 2004 it had grown more than 3,000 percent, with the federal government spending $14.5 billion in the period.

Creating a very clear connection between 9/11 and government funding for virus research.

So it's not about "There are quite a few pathogens out there that would be extremely bad if they figured out just one or two more tricks."
Not about the viruses figuring out those tricks, but about us humans teaching them those tricks, either for purposes of attack or to learn how to defend against such attacks --- which, with the genie out of the bottle, of course will come. As always: What's possible to do will be done.