AMP always was such an obvious way to end run adblockers. How are carpet ads less annoying than a popup? On mobile I dread accidentally tapping almost anything so this is a troubling development.
I wouldn't compare it to a pop-up (at least not from the animation in the article) but it looks very much like a big in-line ad only the content has a gap that reveals the ad, instead of the ad being placed in the same, scrolling column as the content.
So how is this more troubling than an in-line ad?
I'd consider it more of a mobile interstitial. Interstitials in general are regarded as pretty invasive. But frankly the Google mobile SERP has turned into a big interstitial these days with ads taking up the entire first screen in may cases, requiring you to scroll to see any actual organic results.