Sergey Brin's Return to Google: AI-Era Founder Comeback

Sergey Brin returned to active work at Google in 2023, after stepping down from his Alphabet role in December 2019, to work on the Gemini AI model. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023, as summarized by Fast Company, that he came to the office three to four days a week. Brin later called retirement a "big mistake," according to IDN Financials.

When did Sergey Brin step back from Google, and why?

Sergey Brin and Larry Page gave up their executive roles at Alphabet in December 2019 and handed control to CEO Sundar Pichai, according to a summary of the Wall Street Journal's reporting. Both kept their board seats. The Android Authority report adds that the founders retained full control through their voting power.

Brin said he stepped back in December 2019 hoping for more leisure time, but the pandemic disrupted those plans, according to IDN Financials. Business Insider reported that his retirement included work on the airship startup LTA Research, Parkinson's disease research funding and real estate investing.

What does Sergey Brin do at Google now?

Brin works on Gemini, Google's flagship AI model. In 2023 the Wall Street Journal reported that he was convening weekly discussions on new AI research with employees and taking part in hiring decisions, as summarized by Fast Company and Android Authority.

In a 2025 interview reported by Business Insider, Brin said he was at Google nearly every day to help train the latest Gemini models. He also said, "We fully intend that Gemini will be the very first AGI."

Business Insider later reported, as summarized by The Next Web, that Brin holds no executive title but has become increasingly influential over Gemini. The same report said Google has fallen behind the frontier of AI models, which adds pressure on its next release. EPR has not independently verified either point.

How does Brin's return compare with other founder returns?

Brin's return differs from the best-known founder comebacks because he did not come back as CEO. Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Howard Schultz and Jack Dorsey all returned to lead their companies, according to the sources in the table.

Sources: NPR (Jobs, Dell, Dorsey), Forbes (Dell, Schultz, Dorsey) and the reporting cited above (Brin). Jobs left in 1985 and returned in 1997, according to NPR.

NPR reported that research suggests returning CEOs, including founders, perform worse than first-time chief executives, citing Marquette University professor Kalin Kolev. Brin's return as a technical contributor with no executive title sidesteps that CEO swap, which is EPR's reading of the record, not a finding in those studies.

What happened to Google Glass, the product Brin championed?

Google stopped selling Glass Enterprise Edition on March 15, 2023 and ended support on September 15, 2023, according to 9to5Google. Google had pulled the original consumer Glass in 2015 after it failed to gain traction, according to CNN, and then shifted to the enterprise version in 2017.

Brin has acknowledged mistakes as a founder, including the premature launch of Google Glass, according to IDN Financials. The Glass shutdown came in the same year as his return, and EPR has found no source that links the two.

What can communications teams learn from the Brin return?

Communications teams can take three points from the Brin return, each tied to the sourcing above.

• The return reached the public through press reports, not a company announcement, as far as EPR found. The Wall Street Journal broke the story, citing people familiar with the matter.
• A founder's own words set the story. Brin's "big mistake" comment about retirement and his Glass admission are the lines reporters repeat.
• Control structure shapes what is possible. Brin and Page kept control through voting power, so the 2019 exit did not close off a return.

For related founder and platform stories, see EPR's coverage of Elon Musk's political arc and Facebook's privacy story.