Hah. I hadn't seen that article / heard of the theory, but as far as crackpot theories/hypotheses go, it's one of the more likely (edit: to come about). I doubt it's anywhere near the majority yet, personally.

It was already obvious that propaganda news articles (on obscure websites) had orchestrated releases and promotion on social media, in a massive circle jerk, and I assumed machine generated/assisted content was involved. Then ChatGPT hit the headlines and we all had the power.