Google Glass Returns? Project Astra Debuts at I/O [2024]
Extended Reality
1-minute read
At Google I/O 2024, CEO Sundar Pichai answered the burning question on every journalist's mind using AI—stop counting, we've mentioned "AI" a total of 121 times, clearly illustrating Google's "All in AI" commitment. Surprisingly, there was no announcement regarding an Android XR-Samsung collaboration, but the search giant did showcase its AR smart glasses prototype, hinting at the future of AI wearable tech.
Unexpectedly low-key appearance. (Source: Google)
During the Project Astra presentation by Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, a Google employee demonstrated Gemini using a Pixel smartphone. She asked various questions while pointing the phone's camera at different objects (including a speaker's tweeter, software codes, and the view outside the window) to showcase the AI's visual recognition capabilities. The performance was as impressive as OpenAI's GPT-4o, which had been released the day before.
The employee then asked Gemini when it last saw her glasses, and the Google AI correctly pointed out the location. The audience finally caught a glimpse of the slightly bulky frames–a prototype of a pair of AR smartglasses.
Although Google Glass took flak in the past, the rapid development of large language models made the market potentially more acceptable for such wearables. The Meta and Ray-Ban partnership is a good example.
The latest Google prototype strongly resembles the previously unveiled Project Iris. Despite rumors of project termination, AR smart glasses seemed to have returned to the product roadmap under Hassabis's leadership.
Are you looking forward to a comeback of Google smart glasses? With AI, computer vision, and spatial computing coming into play, it's getting interesting for sure. Recalling the recent shipment of the poorly received Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1, perhaps 'glasses' might indeed be a more suitable product to advance wearable tech.
