Yes, chrome certainly had other merits too. Neither of us can say with certainty why it succeeded. Personally, I don’t think a crap browser pushed by Google would have but also an amazing browser pushed by an unknown independent developer would have either.
Certainly agree with your 2nd point though.
“If you get sued for the lies our AI pumped onto your website that we paid you for, it’s on you and nothing to do with us gl hf.”