Lets keep in mind that DeepMind is a subsidiary of Alphabet that has to justify its existence (not tomorrow, but over time) with revenue. Interval research corp

Lets keep in mind that DeepMind is a subsidiary of Alphabet that has to justify its existence (not tomorrow, but over time) with revenue. Interval research corporation is a good example of a very high profile research entity that couldn't produce revenue and shut down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_Research_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_Research_Corporation Retaining researchers who write papers is highly correlated with providing a de facto academic environment for them to work in. Microsoft research has become almost the most interesting place for researchers to go to in the last 10 years because they have developed the place to feel like a university department. Look at their research papers (public). Any overlap with commercial products looks providential more than intentional. I'm obviously not talking of people like Jeff Dean, whose intent is to build, not publish papers. The big table paper was not the intent - building Big Table was the intent and when they were done, they ended up writing a paper about it. If Google uses some of the DeepMind research itself, that's really good. DeepMind can make revenue from Google that way (if they have that arrangement). If they can't, it's hard to justify their existence as an independent financial entity - they're better off just being part of Google.