I don't think it's money grubbing. I think it's a genuine attempt to connect with the zeitgeist and be relevant, paired with a fundamental misunderstanding about what's actually happening inside self-driving groups.

But the intention doesn't really matter.

What matters is the utility of the output!

In fact, somewhat ironically, I think a lot of the good work on ethics for AI is coming out of engineering, business, statistics, and economics departments. And those academic departments to do be a bit more "money grubbing" relative to philosophy :-)