You're really missing the broader context here, which was the rise of wholly proprietary news formats like Facebook Articles and Apple News. This was Google's entry into the market that was very much #teamweb vs Facebook and Apple's #teamproprietary because it based itself on open web standards and had a clear pathway towards standardization (that you see materializing in the OP's article).

This was the best solution the web could hope for that balanced open standard concerns with the necessary commercial backing that advantaged AMP's proprietary competitors.