Does motor oil break down over time with little mileage or engine hours?

If you look in your owner’s manual you will see that GM advises an oil change when the monitor specifies and at least once per year. I can’t say how oil in your little used engine deteriorates but once per year is a tolerable expense. If you made only a few long trips to total 3500 miles, your oil might be ok and you could stretch the change interval to two years. The small savings, however, is not worth encountering the possibility of subtracting from the far end of your engine’s lifespan.