Google and Samsung launch AI-powered Intelligent Eyewear

Google and Samsung have entered the smart glasses market with Intelligent Eyewear – AI-powered wearables made in collaboration with South Korean and American eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.

Announced at the Google I/O developer conference on Tuesday, Intelligent Eyewear is intended to allow people to listen to music, take photos, use their everyday apps and interact with Google's Gemini AI assistant, without having to look at their phones.

Two types will be released: an audio-only version, scheduled for launch in the autumn, and a version with a small in-lens display, which will launch later.

The audio glasses provide spoken AI assistance privately into the wearer's ear, while the display glasses will show information overlaid on the wearer's sightline, creating an "extended-reality" (XR) experience.

Both include a front-facing camera, are primarily operated through voice interaction and are designed to work as companion devices to a mobile phone.

"This is such an exciting time for XR," Google's vice-president and general manager of XR Shahram Izadi told the audience in Mountain View, California on Tuesday.

"AI continues to unlock all new experiences on headsets, glasses and everything in between," he continued. "The next big milestone for Android XR is Intelligent Eyewear."

Google and Samsung worked with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker on two glasses styles that will launch this year, with more to follow in the future.

The Gentle Monster style is a pair of elongated oval sunglasses, while Warby Parker's eyeglasses are a classic rounded square shape.

In a video package at the conference, Gentle Monster founder Hankook Kim talked about wanting to make intelligence eyewear "that looks prettier than normal eyewear" and that would connect wearers with a feeling of bravery and rebelliousness.

Warby Parker co-founder and co-CEO David Gilboa spoke about wanting to design "a beautiful pair of glasses" that didn't hide the technology but celebrated it.

Google and Samsung's Intelligent Eyewear is based on the Anddroid XR platform and will work with both Android and iOS operating systems.

They follow in the footsteps of the Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses, which launched a display version in late 2025.

They also mark Google's first return to the product category after the public failure of Google Glass in the 2010s.

The smart glasses market is growing rapidly, with Meta shifting seven million units of its AI glasses last year, according to production partner EssilorLuxottica.

This is despite privacy concerns, including a controversy where Meta users' private video recordings were routinely streamed to support workers in Kenya.

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