Goodbye Project Starline, hello Google Beam 3D video conferencing
Google first teased Project Starline in 2021, billing it at the time as a "magic window" that uses special hardware, computer vision and machine learning to create an almost holographic video call experience. Since then, we've checked out an early version of the experiment for ourselves and learned last year that the company is teaming up with HP to bring a scaled-down version of the product to enterprise clients. At I/O 2025 today, Google announced that Project Starline "is evolving into an AI-first 3D video communication platform" called Beam. CEO Sundar Pichai said onstage that the first devices will be available later this year to "select customers," though there's no word on pricing just yet.
Adding to the computer vision and machine learning that already go into Project Starline (now Beam), Google says the platform will "use AI to enable a new generation of devices that help people make meaningful connections, no matter where they are."
Part of this is a "state-of-the-art AI volumetric video model" and that, plus some power via Google Cloud, combined with the light field display from before, is what makes the calls "appear fully 3D from any perspective." There are six cameras built into the Beam system to capture you from various angles, and the system uses AI to merge the streams and render you and your caller on the light field display. It'll track your head movement to make sure it's delivering the data to your eyes at the right angles, and do so at 60 frames per second.
Though we don't know yet how much a unit of Google Beam might cost, it might be worth pointing out that Logitech made a different version called Project Ghost, and estimated that it will cost between $15,000 and $20,000 per booth depending on the configuration. To be clear, though, Project Ghost is not holographic or rendering 3D, it's just a large TV streaming 2D video that's so big it makes your callers seem life-sized.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/goodbye-project-starline-hello-google-beam-3d-video-conferencing-171056302.html?src=rss
Rating
Innovation
Pricing
Technology
Usability
We have discovered similar tools to what you are looking for. Check out our suggestions for similar AI tools.
Google I/O 2025 recap: AI updates, Android XR, Google Beam and everything e
<p>Today is one of the most important days on the tech calendar as Google kicked off its I/O developer event with its annual keynote. As ever, the company had many updates for a wide range of pr [...]
Project Astra, Google's vision for a universal AI assistant, is pulling int
<p>Last year at Google I/O, one of the most interesting demos was Project Astra, an early version of a multimodal AI that could recognize your surroundings in real-time and answer questions abou [...]