As usual , Google I / O 2024is an absolute whirlwind of newsworthiness and annunciation . This year , rather than focusing on ironware , Android , or Chrome , Google spent most of this year ’s developers ’ conference convincing us that itsAI featuresare worth prioritise . One of those project is Project Astra , a multimodal AI helper you could semi - converse with that can simultaneously utilize the photographic camera to key out objective and multitude .
I say “ semi ” because it ’s evident after the demonstration that this part of Gemini is in its infancy . I spend a few abbreviated instant with Project Astra on thePixel 8 Proto see what it works like in real - time . I did n’t have enough time to test it to its full extent or assay to trick it , but I have a look for what the futurity might feel like as an Android drug user .
Ask it almost anything
The point of Project Astra is to be like an helper who also guides you in the real populace . It can answer motion about the surround around you by key out objects , faces , moods , and textiles . It can even help you commend where you last placed something .
There were four different demo to choose from for Project Astra . They included fibber modality , which asks Gemini to concoct a story free-base on various stimulation , and Pictionary , essentially a game of guess - the - doodle with the computer . There was also an alliteration mode , where the AI showed off its prowess at finding words with the same start letter , and Free - Form let you chat back and away .
The demo I got was a version of Free - word form on the Pixel 8 Pro . Another journalist in my group had request it outright , so most of our demonstration focused on using the twist and this assistant - similar mode together .
The Project Astra sign in the Google I/O AI sandbox.Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo
With the camera pointed at another journalist , the Pixel 8 Pro , and Gemini could describe that the subject was a individual — we explicitly told it that the person key as a humankind . Then , it correctly identified that he was carrying his phone . In a postdate - up question , our group asked about his wearing apparel . It gave a generalised answer that “ he seems to be wear out insouciant article of clothing . ” Then , we ask what he was doing , to which Project Astra answered that it seem he was putting on a pair of sunglasses ( he was ) and striking a perfunctory pose .
I took clasp of the Pixel 8 Pro for a agile minute . I take Gemini to identify a pot of fake flowers aright . They were tulips . Gemini noticed they were also colourful . From there , I was n’t sure what else to inspire it , and then my prison term was up . I leave with more questions than I had sound in .
With Google ’s AI , it seems like a saltation of religion . I can see how identifying a somebody and their action could be an accessibility instrument to assist someone who is blind or has low vision as they sail the mankind around them . But that ’s not what this demo was about . It was to showcase the capableness of Project Astra and how we ’ll interact with it .
A preview of Project Astra’s Pictionary mode, another offering inside the demo room.Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo
My big doubtfulness is : Will something like Project Astra replace Google Assistant on Android devices ? After all , this AI can commend where you put your hooey and pick up on nuance — at least , that ’s what the demo conveyed . I could n’t get an answer from the few Google folks I did ask . But I have a firm inkling that the future of Android will be less about tapping to interact with the phone and more reliant on talking to it .
Alphabet Inc. AndroidGeminiGoogleGoogle PixelPixel
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Gemini correctly identified the phone in the person’s hand.Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo
Gemini correctly identified that the faux flowers were tulips.Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo
