• Google co-founder Sergey Brin admitted past mistakes with Google Glass, citing a lack of understanding of consumer electronics, as the company now partners with Warby Parker to relaunch smart eyewear.
  • Brin expressed renewed optimism for smart glasses powered by AI, highlighting advancements like Gemini and improved user-friendly designs.

At Google I/O 2025 on Tuesday, Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, admitted that he "made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass" in an onstage interview. His appearance followed Google's announcement of a deal with Warby Parker, when the two companies stated they would debut a line of smart spectacles as early as next year, causing Google's stock to climb more than 15%.

Brin continued by saying that he "didn't know anything about consumer electronic supply chains" or the challenges involved in producing affordable smart eyewear.

The co-founder of Google stated that he is a strong supporter of smart glasses and expressed his satisfaction that the business is pursuing them once more, this time with "great partners who are helping us build this."

“And now it looks like normal glasses without that thing in front,” he said, pointing to the camera on the corner of the Google Glass prototype.

Brin said "a technology gap" caused Google Glass's failure. Since the release of Google Glass in 2013, the business has created cutting-edge AI technology that powers Gemini, its flagship AI product, and a crucial part of how people interact with wearable technology.

Google announced its most recent attempt to create Android XR smart glasses earlier on Tuesday, about a decade after the Google Glass project was dropped, in collaboration with a network of partners, including Samsung, with AI and AR capabilities.

Google executives demonstrated onstage how DeepMind's Project Astra-powered smart glasses could help with real-time translations, navigation, and general artificial intelligence inquiries.

As part of its efforts to boost smart glasses, Google is also investing up to $150 million in a partnership with Warby Parker and acquiring stock in the eyewear startup.

“Now, in the AI world, the things these glasses can do to help you out without constantly distracting you — that capability is much higher,” he said. 

The co-founder of Google made these remarks as businesses vie for wearable glasses as a form factor for artificial intelligence technologies. Meta collaborated with Ray-Ban manufacturer EssilorLuxottica to create smart glasses featuring a camera for taking pictures and videos.

Brin stated earlier in the interview that he has essentially come out of retirement to work on Google's Gemini initiatives. According to the Google co-founder, he helps the Gemini team with multimodal initiatives like Google's video-generating model Veo 3.

In a rumored message, Brin advised Google staff that they should be in the office at least every weekday and that the ideal productivity window is about 60 hours per week.

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah