I don't think any single thing you've claimed is factually wrong, and I don't speak for Eleuther nor am I attempting to justify their claims.
But.
As I understand it (mostly from lurking on their discord and reading publicly available materials) this is a group of volunteer academic types trying to replicate something great and awesome, with the only goal of giving it to the world. You could cut them some slack.
I can't speak for you, but as a "for free, weekend project" what they've done certainly makes me feel I need to up my game.