Google Brain spent oodles of money developing that tech only to watch other people capitalize on the research and potentially make Google Search (one of the stickiest products I've ever seen) obsolete. Freeform, self-directed, open-ended research labs are certainly a great approach from a technology breakthrough PoV, if you have 2010s Google margins.

But it's not obvious to me that approach was even a net win for Google as a business. Did Google Brain invent the technology that killed Google? TBD I think.