Google co-founder Sergey Brin has admitted to “a lot of mistakes” in the company’s failed Google Glass project, as the tech giant unveiled its latest attempt to enter the smart eyewear space with AI-powered Android XR glasses.
Brin made the remarks during a surprise appearance at Google I/O 2025 on Tuesday, joining Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and journalist Alex Kantrowitz on stage. The candid conversation shed light not just on the past failures of Google Glass, but also the company’s revived confidence in the smart glasses market—this time with the backing of major partners and advanced artificial intelligence.
“I made a lot of mistakes with Google Glass,” Brin said. “I didn’t know anything about consumer electronic supply chains,” he continued, admitting the difficulty of building smart glasses that could be manufactured and sold at a reasonable price. “I’m glad the company is pursuing them again,” he added, “this time with great partners who are helping us build this.”
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Earlier in the day, Google unveiled its new Android XR smart glasses, powered by DeepMind’s real-time multimodal AI project, Astra. In a live demonstration, the glasses translated foreign languages, gave real-time directions, and responded to spoken queries in natural language—a sharp contrast to the limited functions and controversial design of Google Glass more than a decade ago.
To realize this vision, Google is partnering with a range of tech and eyewear companies. The list includes Samsung and Xreal, both of which have experience in display and XR technologies. Notably, Google is also investing up to $150 million in a strategic partnership with Warby Parker, the popular direct-to-consumer eyewear brand, and has taken an equity stake in the company. Gentle Monster, a premium smart eyewear maker, is also on board.
Brin acknowledged the value of these alliances, suggesting they could resolve the technical and logistical issues that plagued the original Glass rollout.
“Those experienced eyewear and electronics makers may be able to help with some of the supply chain problems associated with producing smart glasses,” he said.
He also credited advancements in generative AI for making the promise of smart glasses more practical.
“The advent of generative AI makes the capabilities of smart glasses much more tangible than when Google Glass was around,” he said.
Once criticized for releasing a product ahead of its time, Brin now argues that time may have finally caught up to the vision. And he isn’t watching from the sidelines. Brin revealed that he has effectively come out of retirement to work with Google’s AI teams, saying he’s in the company’s Mountain View office “nearly every day.” He’s helping develop Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, as well as its video-generating model, Veo 3.
“Anybody who’s a computer scientist should not be retired right now,” Brin said. “They should be working on AI.”
Brin has reportedly urged Google staff to be more ambitious and focused, with past memos encouraging 60-hour work weeks and daily in-office presence to help the company stay competitive in the high-stakes AI race.
Tuesday’s presentation marked a return not just of Sergey Brin to the spotlight, but of Google’s enduring ambition to lead in both consumer hardware and artificial intelligence. With smarter tools, deeper partnerships, and more cautious execution, Google appears determined to avoid the missteps that sank Glass and instead chart a new path forward in wearable computing.