Honestly, it's cute but this is somewhat like what you'd expect to come out of a student project at a university, in which case -- the student is getting valuable research experience, student and advisors are advancing their careers, and any IP produced becomes owned by student and advisor.
In this case, Google has spent shareholder resources on a project that really, could be done at any university, on a product that does not put the user first, and Google owns the IP. In fact, wake up -- you the public should view this product as a mechanism for Google to simply collect more data from people. The more people use this, the better Google's algorithms get at drawing. That's all there is to it. Thankfully, this product is not even fun.
There is a dangerous creed currently executed by Google leadership. Consider the Verily Study Watch: https://blog.verily.com/2017/04/introducing-verily-study-wat... . The watch shows to the wearer only one thing: the time. However, it collects all kinds of data, ostensibly for medical research (at least to start). Forget about putting the user first, the Verily blog post literally talks about "user compliance".
Of any project that comes out of Google, you should ask:
Does this project even put the user first?
Does this project even put Google's shareholders first?
And if you are a current Google shareholder (as many of their current and former employees are, if they haven't sold), you should agitate that Google start accepting and focusing on becoming a value company, if all the further growth opportunities they are able to execute is just further user exploitation.
I used to feel there was something bad about using ad-blockers, then Google started paying AdBlock to allow some types of Google ads through. I learned this while working for Google in DoubleClick circa 2014. I no longer work for Google. PSA -- just so you know.
In this case, Google has spent shareholder resources on a project that really, could be done at any university, on a product that does not put the user first, and Google owns the IP. In fact, wake up -- you the public should view this product as a mechanism for Google to simply collect more data from people. The more people use this, the better Google's algorithms get at drawing. That's all there is to it. Thankfully, this product is not even fun.
There is a dangerous creed currently executed by Google leadership. Consider the Verily Study Watch: https://blog.verily.com/2017/04/introducing-verily-study-wat... . The watch shows to the wearer only one thing: the time. However, it collects all kinds of data, ostensibly for medical research (at least to start). Forget about putting the user first, the Verily blog post literally talks about "user compliance".
Of any project that comes out of Google, you should ask: Does this project even put the user first? Does this project even put Google's shareholders first? And if you are a current Google shareholder (as many of their current and former employees are, if they haven't sold), you should agitate that Google start accepting and focusing on becoming a value company, if all the further growth opportunities they are able to execute is just further user exploitation.