Google introduces AI smart glasses with a HUD at I/O 2024

Google showed off a brief demonstration of AI smart glasses with an I/O 2024 HUD.

The pre-recorded demo was shown as part of Google’s announcement of Project Astra, a real-time, multi-modal AI assistant under development that can remember and reason about everything it sees and hears, as opposed to to current multi-modal AI systems that capture an image on-demand when asked what they see. Google says Astra works by “continuously encoding video frames, combining video and voice inputs into a timeline of events, and caching this information for effective recall.”

The Astra Project demo video starts on a smartphone, but halfway through the user picks up and puts on a thick pair of glasses.

These smart glasses were shown to feature a fixed head-up display (HUD) with a blue audio input indicator indicating when the wearer is speaking and white text indicating the AI ​​response.

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google Deepmind, said “exciting new form factors like glasses” were “easy to envision” as an endpoint for Project Astra, but no specific product announcements were made and a clause of Disclaimer stating “Prototype shown” appeared at the bottom of the clip. Near the end.

What we didn’t see in the Google I/O 2024 keynote was any mention of Android XR, the spatial computing platform the company is working on for Samsung’s next headset. Google may be waiting to let Samsung handle the announcement later this year.

Third-generation smart Ray-Bans reportedly received a HUD and neural bracelet

Third-generation Ray-Ban smart glasses due in 2025 will receive a HUD and neural bracelet, according to a Meta roadmap leaked to The Verge.

Meta reportedly intends to bring a HUD to the next generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in 2025. Will Google be in direct competition with this, or is it planning to provide Project Astra to manufacturers third-party hardware?