Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses were an unexpected hit, with over two million pairs sold since their October 2023 debut. Now, Google is committing to enter the space with its own version of AI glasses, in partnership with eyewear company Warby Parker.
Google announced the partnership at its I/O conference on Tuesday, committing $150 million to develop the frames with Warby Parker. The investment will be split into $75 million for product development and commercialization fees and an additional $75 million as an investment in Warby Parker if the glasses meet certain unspecified collaboration targets.
In a press release, Warby Parker and Google stated that they plan to launch multiple smart glasses over time, with the first pair to launch “after 2025.” The smart glasses will incorporate AI features and have both prescription and non-prescription options.
“We’re excited to work with Google to develop intelligent eyewear that will enhance our everyday lives,” Warby Parker co-founder and co-CEO Neil Blumenthal stated in the press release. “The eyewear we wear and the technology we use are core parts of our identity and our daily experience.”
There are no details yet about how much the smart glasses will cost or when exactly they will hit the market. Google stated in a blog post that Warby Parker and Korean luxury eyewear brand Gentle Monster will be the initial partners for its smart glasses, and it will eventually work with other companies like French luxury brand Kering Eyewear to give users more options.
A Google I/O attendee tries out a prototype of the Android XR glasses. Photo by CAMILLE COHEN/AFP via Getty Images
Google’s Android XR lead, Shahram Izadi, first gave a live demo of a prototype of Google smart glasses on the TED stage last month. The glasses look like a normal pair of lightweight glasses, but come packed with a mini camera, microphones, speakers, and a color display embedded in the lens. They can link to Google’s Gemini AI assistant through simple voice commands.
At Google I/O on Tuesday, Izadi gave a more detailed live demo of a prototype of the glasses, showing how they could send text messages and take photos through voice commands. The glasses correctly answered questions about objects in the external world, like what band was displayed on a poster, and remembered details about what they saw, like the name of a coffee shop on a cup.
The smart glasses could also translate from one language to another in real-time. If two people were both wearing the smart glasses and one person spoke in a non-English language, the other person’s glasses could translate the words to English in real-time. Google markets the feature as having “subtitles for the real world.”
The smart glasses work in tandem with Android phones and allow users to access their apps through voice commands without touching their phone screens.
Related: Amazon Wants to Deliver Packages Faster With Secret Smart Glasses. Here’s How.
The glasses will be built on Google’s Android XR platform, which Google launched in December with Qualcomm and Samsung. The platform supports app development on multiple devices, like headsets and smart glasses.
Google also announced on Tuesday that it would deepen its AI efforts and advance AI-powered search. The tech giant is introducing a new search option called “AI Mode” to all users in the U.S. starting Tuesday, so that they can access an AI answer to their queries instead of a standard Google Search results page.
Shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, were up nearly 5% at the time of writing.
Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses were an unexpected hit, with over two million pairs sold since their October 2023 debut. Now, Google is committing to enter the space with its own version of AI glasses, in partnership with eyewear company Warby Parker.
Google announced the partnership at its I/O conference on Tuesday, committing $150 million to develop the frames with Warby Parker. The investment will be split into $75 million for product development and commercialization fees and an additional $75 million as an investment in Warby Parker if the glasses meet certain unspecified collaboration targets.
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