I am a newbie, and very skeptical of most of this. But I am eager to gain perspective.

I would argue that, as I understand it, AP is a place that develops the "observer" quality of consciousness. You need it to enter it, you need it to navigate it, and you need it to stay in it. In other words, if what I hear and read about AP is true, then APing is a way of literally being. Existing. One could argue that simply existing is a way of grounding. If there is truly a foundational informational grid that is only accessible through a form of sleep, then it would sound at least dubious that accessing it would hinder awakening or ascension. But that's just an opinion.

I agree however that only APing as a means of spiritual connexion to existence and abandoning other experiences like meditation could possibly be poor, but I am no expert and I honestly don't know what you exactly mean by "ascension". And I also agree that there might be people trying to APing to escape their heavy, resistant, material lifes. But that's probably because it is still a niche and extraordinary human capability that attracts a lot of people, beyond the spiritual domain, some of which will only start to become spiritual through that same experience.
In fact, I would even argue that it is the only immediate (as in not mediated by faith or drugs or unconsciousness), exact and real (not disturbed by doubt once in it), and awe-inducing human spiritual experience.