Exactly. The bulk of 'practical AI' don't come from massive products, like 'Office' - but from very specific neural algorithms, applied to very specific things

Exactly. The bulk of 'practical AI' don't come from massive products, like 'Office' - but from very specific neural algorithms, applied to very specific things - done by a few people. That said - this kind of research may benefit from a lot of concurrent research. Also - there are a couple of strategic issues: 1) Prestige - it's important to be recognized as 'a leader' to maintain brand cachet among tech talent 2) Talent Hoarding - Google, FB and MS are each big enough to tilt the landscape in any specific field. It's actually economically viable for them to pay the best talent to sit in a lab and fiddle, even while accomplishing little, over letting the talent go to competitors.