People that find professors and similar in high esteem usually haven't spent enough time in or around academia and academics and for that reason still maintain some innocent aura of mystique and prestige around it in their mind.

Quite literally anyone with a bit of persistence could become a professor (and this by far isn't even a top university either).

They are quite literally just a somebody with an opinion just like anybody else. An opinion barked down to you with 300% scaled fonts and preschooler illustrations.

I have been around a lot of academics and been in academia.

While we shouldn't trust academics just because they are academics, these people specialize in relevant fields and also back their claims with citations throughout the course. They are not just postulating.

Being a "University Professor" means jack shit unless precisely in their (sub)-field. The authors are experts in biology, and evolution of information representation/communication, and about misinformation.

I'll gladly defer to their expert opinion on those topics, but IMO to use such an authoritative voice when they are not experts in actual AI systems. Judging the massive progress in the field of AI, how can anyone even remotely state what these systems inherently are, when they are still so new and ever-evolving?