It Sure Sounds Like Google Is Planning To Actually Launch Some Smart Glasses

Google is moving connected a batch of AI worldly — like, a batch of AI worldly — but if you want to really understand nan company’s imagination for virtual assistants, return a look astatine Project Astra. Google first showed a demo of its all-encompassing, multimodal virtual adjunct astatine Google I/O this outpouring and intelligibly imagines Astra arsenic an always-on helper successful your life. In reality, nan tech is location betwixt “neat conception video” and “early prototype,” but it represents nan astir eager type of Google’s AI work.

And there’s 1 constituent that keeps popping up successful Astra demos: glasses. Google has been moving connected smart facewear of 1 benignant aliases different for years, from Glass to Cardboard to nan Project Iris translator glasses it showed disconnected 2 years ago. Earlier this year, each Google spokesperson Jane Park would show america was that nan glasses were “a functional investigation prototype.”

Now, they look to beryllium point astatine slightest a mini overmuch than that. During a spot briefing up of nan motorboat of Gemini 2.0, Bibo Xu, a merchandise caput connected nan Google DeepMind team, said that “a mini group will beryllium testing Project Astra connected prototype glasses, which we judge is 1 of nan astir powerful and intuitive style factors to acquisition this benignant of AI.” That group will beryllium information of Google’s Trusted Tester program, which often gets entree to these early prototypes, galore of which don’t ever alloy publicly. Some testers will usage Astra connected an Android phone; others done nan glasses.

Later successful nan briefing, successful consequence to a mobility astir nan glasses, Xu said that “for nan glasses merchandise itself, we’ll personification overmuch news coming shortly.” Is that definitive impervious that Google Smart Glasses are coming to a shop adjacent you sometime soon? Of group not! But it surely indicates that Google has immoderate hardware plans for Project Astra.

Smart glasses make cleanable consciousness for what Google is trying to do pinch Astra. There’s simply nary amended measurement to harvester audio, video, and a show than connected a instrumentality connected your look — especially if you’re hoping for point for illustration an always-on experience. In a caller video showing Astra’s capabilities pinch Gemini 2.0, a tester uses Astra to retrieve accusation codes astatine an level building, cheque nan weather, and overmuch more. At 1 point, he sees a autobus flying past and asks Astra if “that autobus will return maine anyplace adjacent Chinatown.” It’s each nan benignant of constituent you tin do pinch a phone, but astir each of it feels acold overmuch earthy done a wearable.

Right now, smart glasses for illustration these — and for illustration Meta’s Orion — are mostly vaporware. When they’ll ship, whether they’ll ship, and whether they’ll beryllium immoderate bully each remains up successful nan air. But Google is dormant superior astir making smart glasses work. And seems to beryllium conscionable arsenic superior astir making nan smart glasses itself.