Are the smartest researchers in the world out there saying there isn't a wall? I don't know of any people doing the actual R&D who frequently make outrageous claims.
In what way is what he's saying wrong though? It makes him considerably more knowledgeable about the subject than the average Joe, and unfortunately for science, it's not like you're going to find an independent spherical researcher in the wild that exists without any bias.
The entirety of Anthropic believe ai is going to eat everything, not just software, and result in major societal disruption within a year. They do not have a sliver of a doubt on this. Article has no idea, is completely wrong.