Not revealing actual thinking traces prevents mdoel distillation on yhe actual output (thinking traces are a key part of the output) which makes it harder for conpetitors to catch up (a moat).

Being currently in the lead in a category is not a moat,a moat is whatever creates a barrier to competitors catching up when you are in the lead. Merely being in the lead is not a moat except in a market with strong network externalities.

unrestricted access to better models at compute prices = better synthetic data and faster research, so its not just about the product imho