Hi, Again, without deep research into the project at hand, I'll make these sweeping statements. ;-)
The fact that some academics have their feathers ruffled by such a project means nothing to me. There is no more political and turfy arena than academia, in my experience, and no arena so far removed from "reality" (apart from mental institutions perhaps).
Far more meaningful are demonstrations, blind tests, proofs embodied in code, and the like.
And again I advocate for long term projects, especially with a goal of achieving more than publications in a journal or an advanced degree.
As for overstated predictions, some famous AI people can be accused of the same. In the 1950s, translating Russian to English was going to be a snap. Further amusement may be found here:
Amnon