Maybe someone who knows google better can answer my question here: are they behind simply because LLMs are not really their core business? In other words, it wasn't (and still isn't) obvious that LLMs will help them sell add space.
And of course writing that gives me a terrible realization: product placement in LLMs is going to be a very big thing in the near future.
I'm an outsider and am speculating based on what I've heard, so maybe I shouldn't even comment, but to me it seems like it's been entirely corporate/organizational reasons. Non-serious funding, shifting priorities, personnel transfers/fluctuations, internal fragmentation, and more. Lack of talent has never been their problem.
And of course writing that gives me a terrible realization: product placement in LLMs is going to be a very big thing in the near future.