Google's ambitious research project Project Starline is evolving into Google Beam, a new artificial intelligence (AI)-first 3D video communications platform, chief executive Sundar Pichai announced at the company's annual developer conference Google I/O 2025.
Pichai said that Beam uses a new state-of-the-art AI video model that transforms standard 2D video streams into realistic 3D experiences, allowing users to connect in a more natural and intuitive way.
Behind the scenes, he explained, an array of six cameras captures the user from different angles. With AI, the company merges these video streams and renders them on a 3D light field display with near-perfect head tracking down to the millimeter and at 60 frames per second, all in real time.
Project Starline was first introduced in 2021, with a goal of combining recent advances in hardware and software to create a remote communication experience that feels like people are sitting right across from each other, even when they are thousands of miles apart.
The company claims that it has conducted thousands of hours of testing across Google offices and with enterprise partners over several years.
Google is collaborating with HP to bring the first Google Beam devices to the market with select customers later this year. The company stated that it is also working with companies like the video conferencing platform Zoom and channel partners such as Diversified and AVI-SPL to bring Google Beam to businesses and organizations worldwide.
It also stated that global firms such as Deloitte, Salesforce, Citadel, NEC, Hackensack Meridian Health, Duolingo and Recruit are gearing up to roll out this platform to their respective teams.
Pichai stated that over the years, the tech giant has been integrating some of the "cutting-edge" advances from Starline into its video communication platform, Google Meet. This includes near real-time speech translation while maintaining voice, tone and expressions, a feature that will be available on Google Meet starting today.
The Alphabet chief also showcased a demo of the translation feature, where an American traveler had a conversation with a vacation rental owner in South America who spoke Spanish.
Pichai stated that the feature will currently offer English to Spanish translation to its subscribers, with support for additional languages expected soon. The translation feature will also be rolled out to enterprises later this year, he said.
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