That society didn't know this at the time is indeed relevant to AI development, and the analogy would be that the next big thing might come out of some minor research team that most people dismiss instead of the biggest and most well known groups… a bit like how Google's LaMDA was making headlines before ChatGPT surprised everyone.
It's certainly still possible today that some random individual has a crucial insight that gives them an edge over the big names, yet even those big names know far more than me.
Which is rather annoying, because I'd be interested in taking the opportunity of having been laid off to switch from iOS to AI. (If anyone reading this is hiring people in Berlin, contact details on my website. Plus side of hiring me: I'm relatively cheap in that field, and enthusiastic about the possibilities).