And unlike many people that claim to be AI researchers, they actually build working systems that seem to be engaging in learning, communication, and other intelligent behaviors.

Anecdotally, in my experience, artificial intelligence is something of a God of the Gaps for computer science--techniques that work are appropriated by others, relabelled, and put to work. Someone who claims to be an AI researcher is essentially saying "I am studying things that don't actually work yet".

This is probably related to the long "AI winter" caused by the collapse of hype.