I'd also add that the cuts to ML teams seem to reflect more of a freeze on R&D in general--totally normal in a downturn--and that ML just happens to be a featur

I'd also add that the cuts to ML teams seem to reflect more of a freeze on R&D in general--totally normal in a downturn--and that ML just happens to be a feature in a lot of R&D at this point. Most of these companies have substantial investments in ML that aren't research-focused, they're powering their flagship products. At this point, ETA prediction isn't a speculative experiment for Uber or Google Maps, just like RankBrain, Smart Compose, spam filtering, etc.