> first one has taken a graduate level stat course and/or ML course, and may have work experience in machine learning/data science

I think it's just a few people getting salty because they understand "how it works" but don't understand "why is getting popular". So they start to shout from their ivory tower without realising the tectonic shift under way.

Sort of, you know how to build a stupid mobile video/photo app, but fail to make it popular like facebook, instagram, tiktok, etc. The tech used is certainly not transformative on the surface, but the implications of mass adoption and impact at a societal level are huge.

I for one I'm excited about its usefulness and how this is going to speed up the AI race. The genie is out of the bottle.