You are writing as if the topic of group's research has changed. It has not. Actually those people were working for humanity as whole. Now they are working for Uber.
I agree that this situation hard to avoid, and its hard to blame Uber for being a better employer then public but still, there is nothing to celebrate about the fact that CMU got stripped of its research lab and that the tech will land in this company's sleazy hands.
Uber will not exist if people don't use it. Uber is providing a service in 300+ cities, and over a million people per day choose use it. In my assessment the engineers work has a greater likelihood of existing being part of Uber.
Why are they sleazy?
Well, the public needs to pony up a competitive remuneration + funding package to retain these guys at CMU. At least, that's what would happen in a true free market.
I agree that this situation hard to avoid, and its hard to blame Uber for being a better employer then public but still, there is nothing to celebrate about the fact that CMU got stripped of its research lab and that the tech will land in this company's sleazy hands.