Sergey Brin calls retirement 'the worst decision' and returns to Google to lead Gemini AI push

Google cofounder Sergey Brin said he was 'spiraling' before returning to work on Gemini -- and staying retired 'would've been a big mistake' | Fortune

Google cofounder Sergey Brin thought retiring from Google in 2019 would mean quietly studying physics for days on end in cafés. But when COVID hit soon after, he realized he may have made a mistake. "That didn't work because there were no more cafés," he told students at Stanford University's School of Engineering centennial celebration last week, Business Insider reported. The transition from president of Google parent company Alphabet to a 40-something retiree ended up not being as smooth as he imagined, and soon after he said he was "spiraling" and "kind of not being sharp" as he stepped away from busy corporate life. Therefore, when Google began allowing small numbers of employees back into the office, Brin tagged along and put his efforts into what would become Google's AI model, Gemini. Despite being the world's fourth-richest man with a net worth of $247 billion, retirement wasn't for him, he said. "To be able to have that technical creative outlet, I think that's very rewarding," Brin said. "If I'd stayed retired, I think that would've been a big mistake." By 2023, Brin was back to work in a big way, visiting the company's office three to four times a week, the Wall Street Journalreported, working with researchers and holding weekly discussions with Google employees about new AI research. He also reportedly had a hand in some personnel decisions, like hiring. Skip forward to 2025 and Brin's plans for a peaceful retirement of quiet study are out the window. In February, he made waves for an internal memo in which, despite Google's three-day in-office policy, he recommended Google employees go into the company's Mountain View, Calif. offices at least every weekday, and that 60 hours a week was the "sweet spot" of productivity. Brin's newfound efforts at work may have been necessary as OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in 2022 caught the tech giant off guard, after it had led the field of AI research with DeepMind and Google Brain for years. To be sure, Google for its part has been rising in the AI race. Analysts raved last month about Gemini 3, the company's latest update to its LLM, and Google's stock is up about 8% since its release. Meanwhile, OpenAI earlier this month declared a "code red," its highest alert level, to improve ChatGPT. Brin added in the talk at Stanford that Google has an advantage in the AI arms race precisely because of the foundation it laid over years through its neural network research, its custom AI chips, and its data center infrastructure.

Why Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Says His Early Retirement Was 'the Worst Decision'

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, 52, says walking away from the tech giant in 2019 and "trying retirement" quickly proved to be the wrong move for him. In a talk released recently by the Stanford University School of Engineering, Brin called his choice to retire "the worst decision." He initially imagined a low-key life, picturing long days spent sitting in cafes and studying physics. Instead, the timing could not have been worse: The Covid-19 pandemic shut down public life, including the cafes he had intended to use for his new routine. Instead of a rich intellectual sabbatical, Brin found himself isolated and cut off from the stimulation he was used to. He told Stanford University students that without intellectually demanding work, he was "just kind of stewing" and felt himself "spiraling" and "not being sharp." He felt a pressing need to return to the office, which was closed at the time. Related: Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Is Back at the Company 'Pretty Much Every Day.' Here's What He's Working On. "After a number of months, we started to have some folks going to the office, and I started to do that occasionally," Brin said at the talk. "[I] then started spending more and more time on what later became Gemini, which is super exciting." The work developing Gemini, Google's flagship AI model, gave Brin a crucial technical and creative outlet. Today, Brin is back working full-time at Google, focusing on AI initiatives. "I think that's very rewarding," he said. "If I'd stayed retired, I think that would've been a big mistake." Brin tied his retirement regret to a wider theme: Founders, including himself, often misjudge timing and readiness. He gave the $1,500 Google Glass smart glasses as an example, claiming he rushed a product that was not affordable or ready for the general public to market. He wanted to push an innovative product, but didn't think through the technical details. Related: Google Is Making AI 'Intelligent Eyewear' With Warby Parker After Eyeing Meta's Ray-Ban Success He has also urged members of his team to work more than the standard 40 hours per week -- and all of it in the office. In a memo released earlier this year, he recommended that Google staff working on Gemini AI should work in the office "at least every weekday" and pushed 60-hour workweeks as the "sweet spot of productivity." Brin is the third-richest person in the world at the time of writing, with a net worth of $246 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He follows Elon Musk and fellow Google co-founder Larry Page, who hold the first and second spots, respectively. Ready to explore everything on Entrepreneur.com? December is your free pass to Entrepreneur+. Enjoy complete access, no strings attached. Claim your free month.

Sergey Brin admits Google "messed up" and didn't take LLMs seriously

Brin returns from retirement as Google pivots fully to Gemini AI It is rare for a tech founder to admit a strategic blunder in public. It is even rarer for one to admit that their company missed a technological wave that they themselves set in motion. Yet that is exactly what Google co-founder Sergey Brin did during a recent appearance at Stanford University. Speaking candidly at the centennial celebration of the Stanford School of Engineering, Brin acknowledged that Google failed to capitalize on its early lead in artificial intelligence. Also read: AI-controlled robot shoots human after prompt manipulation, raising serious safety risks Brin told the audience that the company "for sure messed up" by underinvesting in large language models. He specifically pointed to the Transformer paper as a missed opportunity. This groundbreaking piece of research was published by Google researchers eight years ago and introduced the architecture that eventually became the "T" in ChatGPT. Despite owning the foundational research that paved the way for the current generative AI boom, Brin admitted that Google "didn't take it as seriously as we should have" at the time. The hesitation stemmed from a mix of corporate caution and a lack of foresight regarding how quickly the technology would scale. Brin noted that the company was "too scared" to release chatbots to the public because early models had a tendency to say "dumb things." As a result, Google kept its AI research largely confined to the lab while startups like OpenAI moved aggressively to productize the technology. Brin suggested that the company rested on its laurels and failed to anticipate that the "Deep Tech" of AI would become the primary battlefield for the industry so quickly. Also read: Samsung SATA SSD production halt explained: Why storage prices are rising The wake-up call was significant enough to pull Brin out of retirement. He revealed that he had officially retired just before the COVID-19 pandemic to study physics and spend time with his family. However, the surge in AI development drew him back to the Googleplex. He described his return as a necessity because he missed the technical challenges and the fast-paced environment. Brin is now deeply involved in the development of Gemini and even mentioned that he talks to the AI during his commute to brainstorm ideas. He emphasized that the company has now fully pivoted to prioritize AI to catch up to the market it inadvertently helped create. Also read: Rapido CTO on AI, open source, drones and future of Indian mobility