This is so far above my head it isn't even funny. I just looked up ETH and was 9 links in before I realized even the explanations of the parts of it were out of my grasp. Can someone explain the implications of this?

It depends on your background. If you don't have a computer science background the statement needs layers and layers of buildup that can't happen in a single hacknews comment. But the outside implication is still accessible.

The outside implication for what is going on is that OpenAI has very clearly demonstrated insane capability in coming up with clever algorithms. You cannot deny some real level of super human like abstract reasoning here.

K-sat is the hard theoretical computer science problem. Nothing else is close in terms of how much it has been studied. There are journals and conferences for SAT.

It is really hard to come up with faster ways to solve it. So much so that people were convinced that you really can't go faster than exponential time. OpenAI has just shown a breakthrough construction better then decades of research by elite specialists was able to come up with.