[aab0]

> Worst case, it wants to "own" deep learning, so that nobody can really compete with them. Although I think that would be a little in conflict with their strategy to open source tensorflow.

Only a little. Releasing all the models and frameworks helps advance the field, helps with finding people to recruit, helps with integrating them into teams, and so on. This is why so many giants find it in their own self-interest to contribute to FLOSS these days.

Competition-wise, as is often said, Google has all the data. If for every deep learning advance they make $1 and the competitors make $0.95, they win. Patents here are quite helpful: you may make a neat translation app using some new tricks, and then discover when you go to commercialize it that oops, Google's patented 'using neural nets for translation'. Then you either quit, get sued, get bought, or give them most of your profits.