> I would venture most industries, with foundations on other research fields, are likely the same.
"Industries" is a key word though. Academic research, though hardly without its own major problems, doesn't have the same set of corrupting incentives. Although the lines are blurred, one kind of research shouldn't be confused with another. I do think it's exactly right to think of AI researchers the same way we think of R&D people in oil & gas, not the same way we think of algebraic topologists.
Andrej Karpathy (the one behind the OP project) has been in both academia & industry, he's far more than a researcher, he also teaches and builds products
"Industries" is a key word though. Academic research, though hardly without its own major problems, doesn't have the same set of corrupting incentives. Although the lines are blurred, one kind of research shouldn't be confused with another. I do think it's exactly right to think of AI researchers the same way we think of R&D people in oil & gas, not the same way we think of algebraic topologists.