[marcodave]

> Similarly, Google's ad revenue allows it to pursue incredible advances in AI and driverless cars that would otherwise be unprofitable.

yet at the same time, they can decide what's "in" and what's "out" (figurately) overnight. They could declare that driverless cars "are not worth it" or that AI research "has to be reorganized", and who would be there to counter them?

[profunctor]

Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Microsoft, Uber etc etc. Google have a very powerful position but its not like they don't have formidable competitors in every field except maybe search.