The problem is that Google has been positioning itself as the leader in AI for over a decade, and now that powerful AI is starting to become a reality, Google seems completely blindsided. They have no idea how to capitalize on this development.

Google's problem isn't lack of engineering talent, it's lack of leadership. If Google's board of directors gets their act together and finds new leadership, Google could yet harness what remains of their engineering talent and stay in the game, or even pull ahead.

A lot of the pieces are there for Google to succeed. They still have top researchers and the institutional skill to run AI at scale. What they lack is clarity of vision. Under the current management, Google is following the paths of Xerox and Kodak.