We're​ in a different historical moment, though. GPUs are specialized hardware for linear algebra, and have kind of taken over. TPUs are similarly specialized.

We're​ in a different historical moment, though. GPUs are specialized hardware for linear algebra, and have kind of taken over. TPUs are similarly specialized. The big difference is that Moore's law seems to be stalled out for standard, general purpose processing; as a result there's a lot to be gained in specializing. Now whether these particular professors are worth anything is a different question...