AI has an extremely high capital barrier to research and development. Getting that initial capital required promises of a world-changing technology. A few companies with lots of investment were able to develop the technology and roll their own models. The business case for this R&D was that providing the models to paying users would amortize the R&D costs. But, promising disruption was the first step to getting the money.

Then the Chinese came along and showed that you can take those model weights, repackage them as open weights, and undercut the business model. Suddenly Dario et al. start talking about how dangerous AI is and how it needs to be regulated right now, before someone's abliterated open-weight Chinese-provided business-undercutting model destroys the world. They want their walled gardens regulated into being the only game available.

Both stages of the game—raising capital and regulatory capture—require hyping up the disruptive aspect of AI.