Google already controls nearly all parts of the AI stack including TPUs, its own datacenters, its own models, and its own consumer platform in Gemini, and it’s also adding consumer hardware to the mix.
Google has announced that its AI-powered glasses will arrive next year. “At I/O, we announced we are working with Samsung and our partners Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to design stylish, lightweight glasses that you can wear comfortably all day. With our partners, we are working to create two types of glasses,” Google wrote in a blog.
“First, there are AI glasses designed for screen-free assistance, which use built-in speakers, microphones and cameras to let you chat naturally with Gemini, take photos and get help. And then there are display AI glasses, which add an in-lens display that privately shows you helpful information, right when you need it, like turn-by-turn navigation or translation captions. The first glasses will arrive next year,” it said.
The glasses that’ll arrive next year will allow users to use the cameras and audio capabilities of the glasses to ask questions about their surroundings with Gemini, Google’s AI model. These glasses won’t have a display, but the AI will be able to answer spoken questions based on what the glasses see and hear.
Google isn’t the first company to bring AI glasses to market. Meta has already partnered with RayBan and released similar glasses. These glasses have been available to consumers for a while, and have some some adoption. Apple too is rumoured to be looking to come out with a similar AI device, and OpenAI is working on some kind of an AI hardware device as well.
Google has the advantage of having a world-class model that it can put into these glasses. Google Deepmind CEO Demis Hassabis has recently spoken about how Google’s AI models are extremely capable at multi-modal tasks and understanding the user’s environments. As such, the models powering Google’s glasses will likely be at the very frontier of the capabilities of AI. Also, Google has useful accompaniments like Google Maps which could help provide better answers in real-world situations. But Google hasn’t had the best results with hardware devices — its Google Glass device was far too ahead of their time when it were released in 2013, and their phones, while having a niche fanbase, haven’t managed to yet challenge companies like Apple. But with Google now taking a second stab at consumer glasses — this time with the advantage of having some very powerful models backing them up — it might end up being a different story.