Ruining a lifetime worth of research effort, passing bruteforce as achievement, thus lying, just to appear first in position, is something to be ashamed of IMO.
Researchers don't have any obligation to not ruin the work of others. Research is a competitive arena, not kindergarten.
Disparagement of the effort as "brute force" is just argument by insult. What matters is the result obtained. You don't like how they obtained it? Cry me a river.
Ethics matter a lot, you can do whatever you want and be considered a very bad human being as a result. The result matters, but it also matters the discrepancy between what you do and what you claim you do. Bruteforce != ai did it. And that’s fact, no matter how much river you cry me
