> "Well, Google could have easily not have shared its technology." Sure, but the idea is that if they didn't share their technology, they'd still be in the sam

> "Well, Google could have easily not have shared its technology." Sure, but the idea is that if they didn't share their technology, they'd still be in the same spot: they would have invented transformers and still not shipped major products around it. Sure maybe OpenAI won't exist, but competitors will find other ways to compete. They always do. So at best they are very very slightly better off than the alternative, but being secretive IMO wouldn't have been a major change to their market position. Meanwhile, if Google was better at productizing its research, it matters relatively little what they give away. They would be first to market with best-in-class products, the fact that there would be a litany of clones would be a minor annoyance at best.