I don't think it's people in tech specifically - I think that "fire your workers because they're going to be replaced by AI" is a great excuse for firing workers without looking bad. Thus, anyone who might use that excuse has a strong incentive to play up the potential of AI (and thus the plausibility of their excuse), regardless of the actual value of AI.

Also, we're all calling it "AI" for some dumbass reason. That infects our thoughts with unwarranted credit toward the technology.