Sergey Brin Explains His Google Return and AI Focus at I/O Convention

Google cofounder Sergey Brin made a shock look onstage on the firm’s flagship I/O developer convention Tuesday, the place he defined why he is returned to the tech big and what he is realized from the failure of Google Glass over a decade in the past.

It is the most recent signal that Google goes hardcore on AI. Brin has been again at Google to assist develop its AI merchandise since 2023 because the search big races in opposition to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and he shared about what he is been as much as since returning to the trenches.

Brin wasn’t anticipated to talk on the discuss, which Google billed solely as an interview of its DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. He joked, “I torture folks like Demis, who’s fairly superb. He tolerated me crashing this hearth.”

Within the chat with Hassabis, Brin stated he comes into Google “just about each day now” to chip in on coaching the most recent fashions from Gemini. It is one thing that naturally pursuits him, the famously technical co-founder stated.

“I are usually fairly deep within the technical particulars,” Brin stated. “And that is a luxurious I actually get pleasure from, luckily, as a result of guys like Demis are minding the store. And that is simply the place my scientific curiosity is.”

Since returning to Google, Brin additionally attended final yr’s I/O, the place he fielded reporters’ questions on AI.

Studying from Google Glass

On the 2012 Google I/O convention, Brin famously demoed a video by which he wore Google Glass whereas skydiving to indicate off the tech big’s earlier foray into wearables. This yr, he additionally addressed Google Glass, which it stopped promoting a decade in the past.

On the Tuesday hearth, Brin stated Google Glass’s failure stemmed partly from his lack of know-how about manufacturing and provide chains.

“I simply did not know something about client digital provide chains, actually, and the way laborious it could be to construct that and have it at an inexpensive worth level,” he stated.

Brin is much extra bullish on Google’s newest wearables enterprise: “XR,” or Prolonged Actuality, glasses. On the hearth chat, he stated he thinks AI is much extra succesful now for such a product.

Enterprise Insider was in a position to snap an image of the usually reclusive billionaire attempting the XR glasses on earlier than the hearth chat, too: