From Cambridge Dictionary:
unnecessary actions or words that have little meaning and make something seem more important or complicated than it really is
It's still just one person. He might have been pioneering the technology in the early days of the company, but they should have progressed to a point where it doesn't really matter.
The "brains" behind certain technologies often leave once a company moves from the development to a commercial stage.
In any large development project there are a few people that really move things forward and a lot of people that are just along for the ride. Karpathy was in the former category. His absence will be felt, just like it was at Tesla. Or what major progress have they made since he left?
I guess I agree, just not sure if the dev stage is actually over.