I wonder if the author of the article knew about the series, or do they both just independently came across this topic to talk about it.

Anybody working in the field will be very familiar with these concepts.

It's basic information theory, which has been around since the end of WWII. It's a common topic today because some of its subtle insights are becoming increasingly relevant in our current era of AI, as we learn to understand these black boxes.

it was vaguely in my understanding of information & intelligence with compression; it was also brought up in several of the initial trials against AI companies where they discussed how the AI is akin to compression.

So they're both sourcing a bit broader zeitgeist.