Driving Infrastructural Advantage: Google’s Strategic Moves in AI Digital Technology Commons

In recent years, the adoption of open-source digital technologies in AI computing and cloud infrastructures – which we call AI Digital Technology Commons (AI DTCs) – has accelerated the creation and adoption of cloud-based AI applications. This trend is driving infrastructural innovation and the way AI DTC resources can be harnessed for competitive advantage. We document how Google has used strategic and tactical moves in AI DTCs over the past decade to drive AI ecosystem growth while manoeuvring for a position of influence within it, to com-bine infrastructural and product innovation, and harness the resulting AI DTC momentum to drive proprietary advantage by exploiting data network effects. Based on this analysis we propose a three-step process model of infrastructural competitive advantage, which distinguishes between Herding, Productizing, and Colonizing activities in driving and leveraging DTCs for competitive advantage.