AR Translation Glasses and More From Google I/O

You didn’t hear the word ‘metaverse’ once from Google executives at today’s I/O developer conference keynote. Instead, CEO Sundar Pichai and others talked up “ambient computing,” the concept of weaving digital devices into people’s lives so they can seamlessly connect with the internet while going about their day. In other words, Google’s in no rush to respond to Meta Platforms’ Horizon Worlds or other, more AR-focused metaverse ideas.

But Google evidently does want people to be excited about AR glasses. Pichai closed today’s event with a video showing off a prototype pair of ordinary looking glasses that seemed designed to do just one thing: translate speech in real-time by showing the output on the transparent glasses display as text. That’s a far cry from immersive AR, but it seems Google is confident that real-time translation is a compelling enough feature to get people interested in the device category. No indication was given as to when Google might try to release such a product.