Amusingly, by (dictionary) definition you're wrong, because "grift" means "engage in petty or small-scale swindling" (Merriam-Webster), but you're alluding to a much larger-scale phenomenon.

But it's tinfoil-hattish to claim that projects like this and the PR about it is part of a "grift". You're squinting hard to be able to see what you want to see.