Sergey Brin, the man most responsible for Google Glass, is out of retirement and back at the company he cofounded, helping make AI happen. He’s also touting a new kind of “Glass” or, more accurately, Android XR smart glasses while admitting to some big Google Glass missteps.
Brin unexpectedly took the stage at Google I/O 2025 for a sitdown with Big Technology Podcast’s Alex Kantrowitz and DeepMind’s CEO Demis Hassabis on Tuesday. While the discussion mostly revolved around Gemini, Google’s generative AI platform, Kantrowitz asked Brin what he learned from the Google Glass experience and how he might apply that to the modern Android XR Glasses project.
With bracing candor, Brin told Kantrowitz, “I definitely feel like I made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass, I’ll be honest.”
It’s quite an admission from Brin, who more than a decade ago was Google Glass’ biggest champion and memorably hosted a launch featuring wing-suit skydivers jumping from a plane while wearing Google Glass. It was a spectacular moment, but even there, Brin now sees a flaw and how he might avoid a similar misstep.
Talking about how much he missed that big launch moment, Brin turned his attention to the new XR glasses’ own launch. “Maybe…we should probably polish the product this time, when it’s ready and available, and then we’ll do a really cool demo. So, that’s probably a smart move.”
Brin may see the blemishes and ultimate failure of Google Glass, the first wearable smart glasses that let you use gestures, head tilts, and even blinks to take a picture, but there was a moment between 2012 to 2014, when Google Glass was everywhere.
I wore my pair to a fashion show and CES, and on numerous network TV shows. Brin was spotted on the subway wearing his. They were, for a time, a cultural phenomenon, but also ridiculous, almost as quickly spawing the meme “Glassholes“.
Would be cool if this guy showed up again at #GoogleIO. This is from a decade ago (at a different event) when Sergey showed me how to take a selfie with Google Glass pic.twitter.com/y0zlrMyR5cMay 14, 2024
Still, I appreciated Brin’s enthusiasm, and when I ran into him more than a decade ago, while wearing Google Glass, naturally, he graciously took the time to show me how you could take a selfie with Google Glass (yes, it involved removing them from your face).
Glass suffered early on from availability and pricing issues ($1,500 / £1,000, or around AU$2,000) and Brin points to his naivete as the cause: “I just didn’t know anything about consumer electronics supply chains really, and how hard it would be to build that and have it be at a reasonable price point….This time, we have great partners that are helping us build this.”
The point here is that instead of Google trying to figure any of this out, it now has companies like Samsung, Gentle Monster, and Warby Parker, all experts in building consumer products, supply chains, and retail pricing, building the Android XR Glasses for them.
AI will make the clear difference
Google Glass faded into ignominy, but Brin sees Google’s return to smart glasses in a fresh light, and it’s mostly because of his new pet project at Google: AI and Gemini.
Aside from the form factor, which did not look like normal glasses, Google Glass might have been ahead of its time. They were “smart” without really having any true smarts of their own.
“Now, in the AI World,” said Brin, “the things these glasses can do to help you out without constantly distracting you, that capability is much higher.” And it potentially makes interacting with Android XR Glasses much more natural. It’s also why Google and its partners are putting Gemini at the center of these Android XR wearables.
Finally, Hassabis, who’d been watching the whole exchange, chimed in, “I feel like the universal assistant is the killer app for smart glasses, and I think that’s what’s gonna make it work.”
This all makes sense; a powerful AI sitting resident on your face in a familiar form factor that asks for nothing more than voice commands to do your bidding, but can also watch and act on your behalf. That’s the future of smart glasses, and one that Google Glass aspired to but never achieved.
Android XR Glasses will be Brin’s second smart glasses act and, perhaps, the one he’ll ultimately be best remembered for.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
