You nailed it. Attention accrues to them because of their money and the power it gives them, not the other way around. Without his money and control of OpenAI, Altman would be - along with Elon Musk - just another dork posting on Reddit during his shift at the electronics store, and would get the attendant amount of public attention. He’s no smarter or dumber than the average guy, but we don’t devote news articles to whatever the average guy thinks about something he heard on a podcast during his commute.