The correct tense is "is learning". They've been studying this for years. This is not news to the AI/cog sci community, to the point that it's insulting to claim that it is.
Some aspects of our work have been trickling into the mainstream. But if you don't assume that the mechanisms of mind are computations on representations, then it is very difficult to get a job without compromising your principles.
And perhaps you could argue that the mainstream thinks this system of computations is the result of self-organization on some lower level. And I wouldn't disagree. But for the majority of the field that is just lip service. Their research goals are to uncover the algorithms that the mind is running. There's no self-organization at that level.
Of course there are always exceptions. But if anyone is still reading this and is interested I can provide literature staking out the relevant positions.