So far as I can tell there are a few groups that make up its "popularity"

Ironically the "anti-AI" crowd, for lack of a more at-hand description mention AI a lot because it's a form of hype many experienced technology-versed people have seen many times before and at such a scale as to be astounding. Also because it doesn't seem to work very well at all. And because everyone is being forced to use it and "forced" to like it.

Then there's the gung-ho "newbies" (who may in fact have more than a decade of experience) who just think it's neat. They love the intricacy of it and the wide-open futuristic vistas and they like talking about what it can or might be able to do some day. This group will become the former group in another decade or so.

Then there's the propaganda - any news article, tweet, comment or what have you that in some way shape or form is being put in front of many people for the purposes of keeping AI discussion happening. Much of this is "free press" because next to lawyers, journalists are least likely to understand technology, and their directives from on high are to promote this thing - whatever it is.

Then there's data science researchers who are ostensibly pulling new insights out of a sea of hallucinations and making interesting new connections because of it. It happens.

I think that's more or less it. There's also the general non-technology group of people who are told things about it and have not used it, nor will they probably ever.