By Kelly Cloonan
Google is working with both Warby Parker and the luxury fashion house Kering to develop artificial intelligence-powered glasses.
The partnerships are the latest attempt by Alphabet's Google to penetrate the smart glasses market, after an earlier foray was abandoned, in part due to privacy concerns.
As part of the deal with Warby Parker, Google has committed up to $75 million toward the eyewear company's product development and commercialization costs, and is also making a $75 million equity investment in the company.
The companies intend to launch a series of products over time, with their first line of intelligent eyewear expected to launch after 2025. The line will incorporate multimodal AI - which simultaneously takes in several data types like text, audio, video and images - with prescription and non-prescription lenses, Warby Parker said.
"Looking ahead, we believe multimodal AI is perfectly suited for glasses, enabling real-time context and intelligence to augment a wearer's surroundings as they move through the world," Warby Parker's Co-Chief Executive Dave Gilboa said.
The smart glasses are intended for all-day wear. They will be launched on the Android XR platform, an operating system for headsets and glasses, Google's Vice President of XR Shahram Izadi said.
The news boosted shares of Warby Parker, which closed up 16% at $20.34 on Tuesday.
Later Tuesday, Kering Eyewear, which develops eyewear under brands including Gucci, Cartier and Saint Laurent, also said it has partnered with Google to develop AI glasses. The Milan-based company said the glasses will also use Google's Android XR and aim to integrate into everyday life with personalized AI-driven features.
Kering Eyewear didn't disclose the terms of the partnership.
The companies enter what is becoming a crowded market for smart glasses.
Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica and Facebook owner Meta have developed smart glasses that include voice-activated Meta AI, with recent features including real-time speech translation and reminder notifications. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said recently that demand has accelerated, with sales tripling over the past year.
Snap and Amazon have also launched smart glasses.
Google previously sold smart glasses called Google Glass, but the project was shuttered in part due to privacy concerns.
Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2025 17:50 ET (21:50 GMT)
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