Subvolts take Google's XR director reveals how multimodal AI and a platform approach will make smart glasses finally succeed. Dec 8, 2025 - Developers
- Learn how Google's platform approach for Android XR lowers the barrier to entry for building new applications.
- Business
- Understand Google's strategy for the next major computing platform and its potential impact on consumer technology.
- Everyday users
- Discover how new smart glasses and AI could change how you navigate the world and interact with technology.
This interview provides a detailed look at Google's strategy for a major new computing platform from a key product leader.
Google XR Director Juston Payne: Project Aura, Android XR, Lessons from Google Glass
Audio streams from Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis. Your place is remembered on this device.
From Subvolts
Summary and analysis by Subvolts editorial, AI-assisted.
Google XR Director Juston Payne discusses Project Aura and Android XR on the AI Inside podcast. He explains how Google aims to succeed where Google Glass failed, leveraging multimodal AI and an ecosystem approach. Payne highlights the current smart glasses market's potential, comparing it to the early iPhone era, and shares a personal anecdote about using prototype glasses for navigation.
Google is trying again with smart glasses, this time with a new plan called Project Aura. They believe new AI technology and a system for developers will make these glasses useful for everyone, unlike the first attempt with Google Glass.
This episode offers insight into Google's renewed push into Extended Reality (XR) with Project Aura and Android XR. It's for anyone interested in the future of computing, especially developers and consumers curious about the next wave of personal technology. The discussion connects directly to frontier labs' work on multimodal AI, which is crucial for making XR experiences intuitive and useful, potentially unlocking a new platform for AI interaction.
- HostJason Howell
- HostJeff Jarvis
- GuestJuston PayneSenior Director of Product Management for XR, Google
- Guest: Juston Payne, Google's Senior Director of Product Management for XR
- Show: AI Inside podcast
- Length: 37 minutes
- Key Initiatives: Project Aura and Android XR
- Reason for current XR potential: Multimodal AI makes this the right moment for XR to take off.
This episode is sponsored by Your360 AI. Get 10% off through January 2026 at Your360.ai with code: INSIDE.
Juston Payne is Google's Senior Director of Product Management for XR and the product mind behind Android XR and the newly announced Project Aura. He joins the AI Inside podcast to explain how Google plans to succeed where Google Glass fell short over a decade ago. We dig into why the smart glasses market today resembles the iPhone before the App Store existed, how Google's platform approach lowers the lift for developers, and why multimodal AI makes this the right moment for XR to take off. Juston also shares a personal story about his son navigating Rome with nothing but prototype glasses. Tune in for an essential conversation about where computing is headed next.
Note: Time codes subject to change depending on dynamic ad insertion by the distributor.
CHAPTERS:
00:00:00 - Podcast begins
00:00:44 - Introducing Juston Payne, Google's Senior Director of Product Management for XR
00:02:13 - Why Google Sees XR as the Next Major Computing Platform
00:05:14 - Google's Ecosystem Advantage and the Developer Problem
00:09:22 - Gemini and XR: A Perfect Multimodal Pairing
00:13:17 - Google Maps and the AI Pipeline Powering Immersive Experiences
00:16:44 - The 10-Year-Old Navigating Rome with Prototype Glasses
00:18:54 - Juston Reveals His Original Google Glass Explorer Edition
00:21:59 - The Three Things Missing from Glass: Hardware, Platform, and AI
00:26:02 - Privacy, Cameras, and Cultural Acceptance
00:27:43 - The Xreal Partnership and Project Aura
00:33:04 - Thank you to Juston Payne for joining the AI Inside podcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- XR
- Juston Payne
- Extended Reality, a term for technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality.
- multimodal AI
- Juston Payne
- AI that can understand and process different types of information, like text, images, and sound, all at once.
1 h 23Is AI Really Bringing the End of Software?
WithBrandon Thomas
50 minQualcomm Wants Its AI Chips On Every Device
WithJohn Solomon
48 min
1 h 05Stack Overflow users don't trust AI. They're using it anyway
WithPrashanth Chandrasekar
2 h 04
Questions people ask
- What is Project Aura?
- Project Aura is Google's new initiative in Extended Reality (XR) aiming to make smart glasses successful.
- Why does Google think XR will succeed now?
- Google believes multimodal AI makes this the right moment for XR to take off, offering a perfect pairing with technologies like Gemini.
Page generated Oct 19, 2026. Summaries are Subvolts' own; the audio, artwork and notes belong to Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis.