this led to the release of Gemini which was absurdly biased when viewed by the typical American.
The compliance regime at big corps is definitely more sophisticated than at a player like OAI
If they focused all of their energy on, simply, a frontier AI model, and not trying to shoehorn a half-complete model into all of their products, there is no doubt they would be ahead.
But this is the innovator's dilemma, and why it is that startups are the disruptors.
Big companies move slow and lack focus. Small companies move fast and can only focus on one thing.
I would argue that is not the case. I won't re-list some of the reasons other posters mentioned, which, based on past year, appear more likely ( decisions hamstrung by corporate committees, data governance bureaucracy, and last, but not least, ideology focus ). Leadership that is actually focused on 'delivering value to the shareholder' or not being worried about first mover advantage seems only a part of it.
edit: added first mover wording