yeah, the hard part about this issue is that the kids that do the project are generally super smart. this situation ends up hurting three groups:

- postdocs that are in a precarious career position are being forced to give up a bunch of work "for free" that they cant put on their CV

- the bright kid is often given a skewed perception about what working in science is like and they will be disillusioned when the handholding stops and they have super-high expectations placed on them

- depending on the how the press frames it, the public either gets a story that's anti-intellectual "never trust the experts" OR some feel-good fluff about some savior-savant on the horizon. neither is useful science reporting but good for clicks.