>As a machine learning researcher, I don't get why these are called world models.

It's called "world models" because it's a grift. An out-in-the-open, shameless grift. Investors, pile on.

I'm just trying to be a bit more political as it can be hard to communicate the issues. My first degree is actually in physics and I'll just say... over there "world model" implies something very different.

Edit: I said a bit more in the reply to the sibling comment. But we're probably on a similar page.