Yeah, and Google has cared deeply about AI as a long term play since before they were public. And have been continuously invested there over the long haul.

The small stuff that they kill is just that--small stuff that was never important to them strategically.

I mean, sure, don't heavily invest (your attention, time, business focus, whatever) in something that is likely to be small to Google, unless you want to learn from their prototypes, while they do.

But to pretend that Google isn't capable of sustained intense strategic focus is to ignore what's clearly visible.