Having a degree in AI, I'm well familiar with those names, and also that any publications from before the pivotal Google paper are not particularly relevant to

Having a degree in AI, I'm well familiar with those names, and also that any publications from before the pivotal Google paper are not particularly relevant to the current generation of "what people now call AI". As for the Chinese Room argument: that's literally the argument against programs having beliefs. It's McArthy argument for demonstrating that even if the black box algorithmic system seems to outwardly be intelligent, it has demonstrably nothing to do with intelligence.