You are missing the point the article. Author is not trying to argue that AI is 'harder' than physics, like a freshman cs major might argue with their physics friends.
Author is talking about how our physical theories, such as QFT, currently have more predictive power than any theories we currently have about machine learning/deep learning.
Author is talking about how our physical theories, such as QFT, currently have more predictive power than any theories we currently have about machine learning/deep learning.
(Author has a PhD in theoretical physics).