- While promoting Project Astra, Google CEO Sundar Pichai teased the possible return of Google Glass.
- Pichai told CNBC that Google was working on prototype glasses to work with Project Astra’s AI model.
- The first Google Glass was launched in 2013 and was a notable commercial failure.
Google Glass could be ready to make a comeback.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichar discussed the possible return of wearable technology, integrated into Google’s new multimodal AI assistant, Project Astra.
“Project Astra shines when you have a form factor like glasses,” Pichar told CNBC. “We are working on prototypes.”
In the Project Astra demo, prototype glasses help the wearer enhance schematic plans on a whiteboard, interpret a drawing intended to reference Schrödinger’s cat paradox, and create a band name based on a Golden Retriever and his stuffed tiger.
Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
During his appearance on CNBC, Pichar did not provide further details on the prototypes under development or when Project Astra will be implemented in wearable technologies such as glasses.
However, users commenting on the demo were quick to praise Google for reinvigorating the technology that went out of production almost a decade ago.
“Google Glass is back in the chat,” one user joked under the YouTube video promoting the Astra project and showing off the prototype glasses.
“I think Google Glass was ahead of its time, and now is the perfect time to re-release it, especially after Apple and Facebook’s sudden interest in this market,” wrote another.
The original Google Glass debuted in 2013 but was a notable commercial failure. Initially touted as the way of the future, users of the technology were mercilessly mocked, and the release of Google Glass 1.0 was marred by literal and figurative headaches during production, as noted by author Quinn Meyers in his book “Google Glass: Remember the Internet no.” .3.”
Production on the original Google Glass was ultimately discontinued in 2015, although two professional editions were attempted in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Sales on both were discontinued in 2023.
However, given the Project Astra demo, it appears that Google never completely abandoned its project, and a resurgence of the technology featuring Google’s latest iteration of its Gemini AI assistant could be very close at hand. horizon.
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