Whatever happened to the industrial R&D lab?

Interesting write up. I spent a lot of time at various industrial labs, and it is an interesting point the article made me realize .. the traditional industrial lab concept is dead. Yes, there are labs run by most major tech companies but it is not the same. I think society and the ruling companies will be the worst for it in the long term.

To add .. the final paragraphs miss the reality on the ground. I've run into a few PhD researchers at Google and Meta at top conferences in the last 12 months. My conversations are mere anecdotal and recollections from my frail memory. I recall both Google and Meta people said they are being directed to beat OpenAI, and hence not able to pursue some of the meaningful research directions, which are not compatible with this goal.

So it is not rosy anywhere now, and I don't think it will be for a whole