There's been a constant drum-beat that even intra-rack is trying to make its way to optical as fast as it can, that copper is more and more complex and expensive to scale faster. If we have a relatively affordable short range optical system that doesn't require heavy computational work to do, that sounds like a godsend, like a way to increase bits per joule while reducing expensive cabling cost.

Sure yes, optical might use expensive longer range optical today! But using that framing to assess new technologies & what help the could be may be folly.