AI was the hot subject today at Google I/O. In fact, if you watched the event, you may have caughtjoking about how many times the word"AI" was uttered on stage . Much was shared regarding the future of AI, which is inevitable, but there was one project in particular that was touted as Google's vision for the future, and we were able to attend a live demo of it.
Although shown off on stage in the pre-recorded video shown below, Project Astra is more impressive in person. For the purposes of the live demo, the Project Astra team at I/O developed a series of games where a camera was pointed down on a table ready to receive input for Gemini 1.5 to process.
There were other examples and games shown, but my favorite was the memory game where Gemini was shown some more items on that table, but was given information such as"Gemini, this is my friend Sam, this is my friend Tom, and this is my friend Sandy," then the items were removed and Gemini was asked questions like"Do you remember who Sam was?" to which Gemini would respond,"Yes, Sam was the plush dog," and so on.
Project Astra, which stands for"advanced seeing and talking responsive agent," is truly a look into the future of AI and how it can become immensely helpful in our day-to-day lives. Being able to see, process, and remember information that it saw before, while being able to hold a proactive and natural conversation with you at the same time, is a huge step above what Gemini can do now.
Johanna 'Jojo the Techie' is a skilled mobile technology expert with over 15 years of hands-on experience, specializing in the Google ecosystem and Pixel devices. Known for her user-friendly approach, she leverages her vast tech support background to provide accessible and insightful coverage on latest technology trends.