Could it be possible that Google is doing some major restructuring? Together with recent AI leadership changes [1], could this be another apparent manifestation?
Yahoo did the same thing to its web browser and Yahoo Groups, not to mention Geocities. If something costs more to support than it brings in, a company will end support for it.
The past decade they've been replacing any leadership who thinks about serving their users or creating amazing things with people who can only think in terms of immediate money.
Don't expect them to make anything new or interesting from here on out. They got lucky that the old guard was so interested in AI, and the new leadership was unable to snuff it out before it turned out to be valuable. But Google will be unable to make anything new after AI since they have harvested their seedcorn.
[1] https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/n...
--> the answer: anyone can built it themselves today
Nothing to see here.
The past decade they've been replacing any leadership who thinks about serving their users or creating amazing things with people who can only think in terms of immediate money.
Don't expect them to make anything new or interesting from here on out. They got lucky that the old guard was so interested in AI, and the new leadership was unable to snuff it out before it turned out to be valuable. But Google will be unable to make anything new after AI since they have harvested their seedcorn.