I don't think it's about better off or worse off, it's about PR and perception.
The wider consumer base is practically itching for a reason to avoid this tech. If it gets out, that could be a problem.
It was the same issue with Geminis image gen. Sure, the problem Google had was bad. But could you even imagine what it would've been if they did nothing? Meaning, the model could generate horrendously racist images? That 100% would've been a worse PR outcome. Imagine someone gens a mistral image and accredits it to Google's model. Like... that's bad for Google. Really bad.
The wider consumer base is practically itching for a reason to avoid this tech. If it gets out, that could be a problem.
It was the same issue with Geminis image gen. Sure, the problem Google had was bad. But could you even imagine what it would've been if they did nothing? Meaning, the model could generate horrendously racist images? That 100% would've been a worse PR outcome. Imagine someone gens a mistral image and accredits it to Google's model. Like... that's bad for Google. Really bad.