Sergey Brin tried retirement — and immediately regretted it.
Speaking at Stanford University’s School of Engineering centennial celebration last week, the Google cofounder said he stepped back from day-to-day work in December 2019, imagining he’d spend leisurely days and “sit in cafés and study physics.”
Then the pandemic hit.
“That didn’t work because there were no more cafés,” he joked.
Worse, he said he felt himself “spiraling” and “kind of not being sharp” without the intellectual stimulation he’d always relied on.
So as soon as Google began allowing a small number of employees back into its offices, he joined them — eventually diving into what became Gemini, Google’s flagship AI model.
“To be able to have that technical creative outlet, I think that’s very rewarding,” the 52-year-old said. “If I’d stayed retired, I think that would’ve been a big mistake.”
Inside Brin’s AI rethink
Brin also offered a candid assessment of Google’s AI trajectory.
Despite publishing the 2017 “Transformer” paper that underpins nearly every major AI model today, he said Google “underinvested” in the technology and was “too scared to bring it to people because chatbots say dumb things.”
OpenAI, he said, “ran with it, which, good for them.”
Still, he said Google retained an edge through its long-standing investment in neural-network research, custom AI chips, and massive data center infrastructure.
“Very few have that scale,” he said.
Asked what students should study in an era when AI can code, Brin warned against fleeing technical fields.
“I wouldn’t switch to comparative literature because you think AI is good at coding,” he said. “The AI is probably even better at comparative literature.”
He also shared what he sees as the biggest mistake founders make — one he admits he fell into with Google Glass.
He rushed the product before it was affordable, polished, or even actually ready.
“Everybody thinks they’re the next Steve Jobs,” he said. “I’ve definitely made that mistake.”
Now deeply involved in Gemini, Brin said the pace of AI development keeps him energized.
“It’s absolutely amazing just the rate of innovation,” he said. “If you skip the news for a month, you’re way behind.”
