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Google Project Astra hands-on: Full of potential, but it’s going to be a while

At Google I/O 2024, Google gave us a glimpse at what next-gen AI could do, but after trying it out, it's clear it won't arrive anytime soon.

It’s a multi-modal feature that combines the smarts of Gemini with the kind of image recognition abilities you get in Google Lens, as well as powerful natural language responses. In theory, it allows computer-based entities to work and behave more like a real assistant or agent – which was one of Google’s big buzzwords for the show – instead of something more robotic that simply responds to spoken commands. In our demo, we had the option of asking Astra to tell a story based on some objects we placed in front of camera, after which it told us a lovely tale about a dinosaur and its trusty baguette trying to escape an ominous red light.

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