Google's Project Astra shows us the future of AI and Wearables

At Google I/O this week in Mountain View, the search giant announced a slew of AI updates and features across all of its products, including a new product that uses the term “Project,” which means that it’s not going to be available to consumers anytime soon. And that’s Project Astra.

In Google’s keynote on Tuesday, the company showed off Project Astra, which is the company’s vision of a multimodal assistant. Basically, Project Astra can interact with text, audio, and video. This makes it a much more powerful AI assistant, compared to Gemini and even Google Assistant before that.

There is a quick few seconds in the keynote, where Google shows a pair of glasses. This is expected to be the new AI Glasses that Google is going to announce at some point in the future. That’s what really got me interested in Project Astra. But unfortunately, Google is not showing those glasses off at Google I/O. But, it is showing Project Astra.

Project Astra is early, but impressive

Google’s Project Astra was developed by its DeepMind unit, and it’s able to see what you put in front of it, as well as hear what you say to it. One of the demos that Google is showing off here at Google I/O this week is the ability to do an Alliteration. Basically, the Googler puts a couple of objects in the camera’s view and adds some more to see how the alliteration changes. It’s pretty impressive, and it’s not always 100% correct, but it does get very close most of the time.

Another example that Google is showing off is, playing Pictionary. Project Astra is scarily good at Pictionary, but it’s still not perfect. If you’re ever bored, you can always play Pictionary with Project Astra.

You can also use Project Astra as a storyteller or just talk and interact with it in free form. However, those demos are not being shown at Google I/O. Likely due to time constraints.

Project Astra is so cool. I really wish Google showed us more of the glasses 👀 #GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/IMRaYXKZ7z

— Android Headlines (@Androidheadline) May 15, 2024

So why do I think this is the future of AI and wearables? Well, Google can put Project Astra in your glasses on your face, and use it to see what’s happening around you. You could also get info on something without pulling out your phone. Sure, we’ve seen stuff like this before in the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, but Meta’s AI is nowhere near what Project Astra is right now.

Most importantly, I think Project Astra’s glasses would be perfect for those that are low-vision or blind. Because Project Astra can tell the person what and even who is in front of them. Obviously, this is still the early days of Project Astra. However, I do believe that this is going to be the future of both AI and Wearables, and I can’t wait to see what that future is going to be like.