For decades, Google reigned supreme over the internet, confidently dominating the digital landscape with literally no rival to worry about.
Since its founding in 1998, the company revolutionized how people accessed information—replacing outdated web directories with cutting-edge algorithms that delivered fast, accurate, and indispensable search results. This breakthrough propelled Google into becoming one of the most powerful and wealthy tech titans in history.
But that dominance was shaken with the arrival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT—a conversational AI that redefined how users interact with information.
What began as a novel experiment quickly revealed its immense potential. Google reportedly sounded a "code red", seeing ChatGPT not merely as a rival, but as a looming threat to its core search business.
The innovation that sparked curiosity soon ignited a full-scale technological rivalry—a race between Google, the long-established digital giant, and OpenAI, a bold challenger intent on reshaping how people search, learn, and engage with the web.
And in 2025, during its I/O developer conference, Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google made an appearance during a fireside chat between Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and journalist Alex Kantrowitz.
When Alex Kantrowitz asked Sergey Brin about his reason for coming back to work at the office, Brin said that:
"Like, honestly, anybody who is a computer scientist should not be retired right now and should be working on AI. That's what I would just say. There's just never been a greater sort of problem and opportunity, greater cusp of technology."
Brin returned to Google in 2023 after stepping away from his leadership role in 2019.
But following the rise of large language models and how Google felt threatened because of its unexpected emergence, Brin becomes deeply involved in the development of Google's AI tools, particularly the Gemini models.
He expressed his enthusiasm for being engaged in the scientific and technical aspects of AI development.
He also recalled how the internet was back when he co-founded Google, and believes that with AI, things are vastly different and more exciting.
Read: 'The Final Race To Artificial General Intelligence Is Afoot,' And Google Must Work Harder
During the session, Brin was asked about Google making its reentry in the glasses wearable technology. And this is where he reflected on the failure of Google Glass.
Now in the AI world, the things that these glasses can do to help you out without constantly distracting you, that capability is much higher. There's also just - I just didn't know anything about consumer electronic supply chain chains, really, and how hard it would be to build that and have it it at a reasonable price point and managing all the manufacturing and so forth."
Bring acknowledged he missteps in the product's development, and that it was a technological advance that very few people found it useful at the time.
But with AI, things are changing, and with AI, wearables are becoming smarter, and a lot more useful that they ever were before. This is why Brin expressed optimism about Google's Extended Reality (XR) glasses, citing advances in AI that make such innovations more feasible.
Brin's appearance and candid insights underscored his commitment to AI and his belief in its potential to be more transformative than previous technological revolutions.
The event also highlighted Google's intensified focus on AI, with Brin actively participating in the development of AI tools and models, signaling a new era of innovation and competition in the tech industry.
Further reading: AI Is Going To Be 'The Biggest Technological Shift We See In Our Lifetimes'