Hah, this isn't surprising: An internal leaked Google document (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35813322) a couple days ago pretty much pushed the idea. Still interesting to see the action follow so short afterwards.

Three quotes from the document:

- "Owning the Ecosystem: Letting Open Source Work for Us"

- "Google should establish itself a leader in the open source community, taking the lead by cooperating with, rather than ignoring, the broader conversation."

- "Open source alternatives can and will eventually eclipse them [OpenAI] unless they change their stance. In this respect, at least, we can make the first move."

EDIT: Misread "open to use" as "open source" and figured it was behind a signup. Sorry, my fault + maybe wishful thinking.