I do think there's some truth to metal knight being dense, but I do also get his perspective here.
I think he recognizes hes not able to convice others that his ideas are good or right. He lacks confidence in his ability to convey his thoughts and feelings to others, including CE. He feels there's something important happening in the world and wants to do what he can to contribute. he feels its best if he focuses on what hes good at. He believes if he delivers good results, eventually people will see his actions as a good thing.
We can see he's not entirely wrong for two main reasons. He was able to create the AI alone by focusing on that over three years without cybernetics, something that he previously didn't think was possible. He broke through his own scientific limiter by following his own path.
Next, think about all the time CE spent working within the hero community; writing reports for the association they dont read, doing investigations into wrongdoings that see no justice, even going to neo heroes hes not really respected by the administration. All of that time and energy CE pours into the hero association goes nowhere. MK says something like "you need everyone to agree before taking action, but time is the most valuable resource" and we do see CE spend a lot of time consensus building and got very little out of it. MK sees a path to achieving success with his own power and relentlessly pursues it to realize his own version of what a hero is, and unfortunately that doesn't include dealing in CE (unless he cries).
yes MK is dense, socially inept and lacks confidence in his ability to convince others of things; but he seems to realize this and not want to spend time doing things hes not good at if he feels he doesnt need to in order to be successful in his ambitions.
