The previous AR announcement indeed had misunderstandings. Here, you can refer to an article I wrote in June about AO token economics.
AO is a project on AR, aiming to implement smart contracts based on storage, which is how AO came to be.
AR is not converted into AO, but holding AR allows one to receive AO airdrops.
The AO token will be transferable starting February of next year.
This is the reason for positioning in AR.