This.
Google (specifically their CEO) was saying since at least 2016 that "Google is an AI first company". (Whatever the hell that means). But they had no product to show for and they are on the verge of being the next IBM.
What it means is it's why so many things about Google experience suck so badly. Whether it's what he meant or not, the practical flip side of Google being "AI first company" is that they're "humans last" company. Or, it's a different way of saying they only do things that scale. Telemetry and automated decision making scale. Human review and customer support do not.
Google is lagging behind in the market space for public AI tools, agree, but I am not convinced they are as far behind in AI development as you indicate.