Google, which is busy developing a platform for smart glasses and mixed reality headsets Android XR, showed at the TED 2025 conference what it has managed to achieve so far.
Image source: ted.com
The presentation was given by Google Vice President Shahram Izadi, who oversees the augmented and virtual reality department. During his presentation, he was also wearing augmented reality glasses, and he invited the company’s product manager Nishtha Bhatia to demonstrate. In the prototype, Mr. Izadi had diopter lenses installed, but the image that was shown on the display in his assistant’s glasses was displayed on the large screen in the hall. He explained that the display of his glasses was showing notes for the presentation – the device connects to the smartphone and supports the display of all its applications.
The key feature of the Android XR-powered smart glasses is, of course, the Google Gemini AI model connected to them. Nishta glanced at the shelf on the stage, turned away, and asked the voice assistant to compose a haiku – a Japanese three-line poem. And then she asked the AI a question about what was on the shelf. Gemini “from memory” told the name of the book standing there and added where the owner’s “forgotten” hotel key card was located.
The voice chatbot demonstrated the ability to translate in real time from both Spanish to English and from English to the more exotic Farsi. When asked in Hindi, Gemini also responded in Hindi on the spot. The AI was then shown a vinyl record cover, and the system, at the users’ request, launched one of the songs from the album, having found it in the Google library. At the end of this stage of the demonstration, Gemini volunteered to take Nishta to her destination.
The second part of the demo didn’t use smart glasses, but Samsung’s Project Moohan mixed reality headset, which is due out this year. The AI showed off its capabilities again: it opened a map of Cape Town in Google Maps’ Immersive View mode, recognized a ski resort in a 360-degree YouTube video, described a picture from a horror-movie-style video, and gave some advice when we launched a game.