The goalposts are still the same. We want to be able to independently verify that an AI can do something instead of just hearing such a claim from a corporation that is absolutely willing to lie through their teeth if it gets them money.

Not disagreeing with you, but I don't think Tao is blowing this out of proportion either. I think it's a pretty reasonable way of saying, "Hey, AI is now capable of something it wasn't able to do before".

Terrance Tao isn’t part of any AI corporation though? He’s purely a celebrated academic telling us this checks out.