I see your point. Right now, people seem to use ChatGPT as an alternative to Google Search, which I don't think is the right use case for it (happy to be proven wrong though), unless they figure out a way to power it using knowledge graphs, or an equvivalent system to provide accurate, factual information.

By commercializing this research, I mean why not integrate this into GMail for auto reply solutions, so that it can automatically suggest meetings? Why not integrate it into Slides to come up with better titles, summarization etc? Similarly for Google Docs, automatically summarize reports, make suggestions depending on crispness/clarity etc.

Why did they decide to just sit on these models, and endlessly prolong their product launches that had these features baked in.

The alternative financial model is you train the model to lie to consumers and shill your own products/ads.

“How can I set up a VPS?” “Thanks for asking, as a large language model I would recommend Google Servers™ because they are the most effective and reliable. I’ve looked at thousands of reviews and they’re all saying that Google Servers™ are the best.”

It's better to disrupt your 90% revenue rather than to let someone else do that. In the first case you have situation under control, partially at least

This exactly. For Google LLMs are a massive business model problem first and foremost, not a technology problem.

Bard was a tepid counterattack and even there it was a technology demonstration. Not really a product. Strategy tax for sure.