Its ideology.

> Its like they've been chomping at the bit for decades to get rid of those pesky humans and are so hyped up over it they can't see clearly anymore.

This is precisely it. Here's my analysis:

AGI is a savior figure for the capitalist class. A tech version of the Second Coming, delivering them from the pesky demands of workers, like a living wage or (gasp!) sick leave.

That's why they're all so obsessed with it, it has religious-ideological component to them. When you hear them talk about AGI, there's always this weird eschatological vibe with it.

Unfortunately, they're blinded by their beliefs and can't think things through even one step further. Even if their cyberjesus comes down to them through the machine and replaces all workers, who's gonna buy all their stuff then?

All they're doing in their capitalist zealotry is ringing in the end of capitalism.

They also don’t seem to realize the AI might take over highly paid executive positions before skilled work.

Knowledge or skilled workers can be used by the AI for swarm training data generation; what value do the execs have to AI?

I think the most beautiful part of capitalism is selling elites rope to hang themselves.