> That's not the argument being made though, which is that it does "work" now and implying that actually it didn't quite work before

Right.

> except that that is the same thing the same people say for every model release,

I did not say that, no.

I am sure you can find someone who is in a Groundhog Day about this, but it’s just simpler than that: as tools improve, more people find them useful than before. You’re not talking to the same people, you are talking to new people each time who now have had their threshold crossed.