[tyingq]

Okay...the top two publicly visible leaders in the space leaving in the same timeframe could mean something. Perhaps in this case it does not. I don't think either of us knows for sure. It does, however, pique my interest in what the group direction is now.

What of the decision to not replace Matt with a specific role or person? Is that not interesting?

And, again, I mentioned many other observations, not just Amit and Matt.

Edit: If the primary driver was lack of expertise in the ML direction, Uber seems an odd place to land, doesn't it?

[rifung]

Another explanation for their leaving is that the overall strategy around Search is changing and now outside of those two individuals' realm of expertise.

I work for Google but this is pure speculation on my part.

[freyir]

> the top two publicly visible leaders in the space leaving in the same timeframe could mean something

Again, Amit may not have been aligned with the direction they're taking search. That doesn't mean Google doesn't care. In fact, it could mean just the opposite.

[snarf]

Singhal's title at Uber says that he is in charge of marketplaces and maps, not the self-driving stuff. So this would be stuff like pricing, dispatch, supply optimization, and route optimization which rely on traditional algorithms and not ML. But I agree with your larger point and find his departure from Google curious. Even if they were moving search in another direction or he was completely bored with what he was working on and wanted change, I am shocked that they would let someone of his caliber leave Google.

[tyingq]

Supposedly, they leverage machine learning across those areas as well...perhaps not as the primary foundation, but used there nonetheless.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/02/uber-is-rolling-out-a-big-...

https://newsroom.uber.com/inferring-uber-rider-destinations/

There's other references, but you get the idea.