Google Beam Futuristic AI-Powered 3D Video Chats Are Coming This Year
Google announced Beam, an evolution of its Google Starline technology, at its annual I/O developer conference on Tuesday. Google has teamed up with HP to commercialize the system.
Read more: Google I/O 2025 Live Blog
Google Beam uses a six-camera array that captures the subject from different angles. An AI video model puts the views together in real time to create a 3D person. Google says the system features near-perfect head tracking, down to the millimeter, with video at 60 frames per second.
The idea is reminiscent of any number of holographic communications systems seen in everything from Star Wars to Star Trek. Unlike the tiny, low-quality Princess Leia hologram from A New Hope, Beam is designed to be life-sized and lifelike. Google once described the technology as a "magic window."
Enlarge Image
Google's Starline technology platform is growing up and getting a new name, Google Beam.
The platform uses a light field display that doesn't require wearing any special equipment. CNET's Abrar Al-Heeti tried out Starline last year and called it "the closest thing to a hologram I've ever seen."
Speech translation, a feature Google is bringing to Google Meet, could come to Beam as well, Google said.
Google introduced Starline as a research project in 2021 and has been testing and refining prototypes ever since. Today's announcement means the technology is closing in on being ready for prime time.
Video calls have long been plagued with challenges. It can be hard to read expressions and gestures. Traditional video chats are missing a sense of eye contact. Zoom fatigue was a hot topic during the height of COVID-19. Beam wants to address those issues with a more immersive and lifelike experience.
Google said HP will share more about the platform at the InfoComm audio visual technology exhibition in June. Google is also working with Zoom and other audio visual companies. Beam will likely find its footing first with larger organizations that want to shake up the way they handle videoconferencing.
The first Beam devices will be available for early adopters later in 2025, so start practicing your "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
Beam isn't Google's only big announcement of the day. Check out everything that's been revealed at Google I/O.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Engadget
27 minutes ago
- Engadget
LeBron James is reportedly trying to stop the spread of viral AI 'pregnancy' videos
It seems like LeBron James' legal team has been trying to stop the spread of viral AI videos featuring the basketball star. As 404 Media reported , a law firm representing James has sent a cease and desist letter to a person behind an AI platform that allowed Discord users to make AI videos of James and other NBA stars. As 404 noted, these videos have been circulating for awhile but it's one particularly strange clip that seems to have gotten James' lawyers involved. The video, which reportedly racked up millions of views on Instagram, shows a pregnant James being loaded into an ambulance after telling an AI Steph Curry to "come quick our baby is being born." 404 reports that at least three Instagram accounts that had shared the clip have since been removed, though the video is available on X . The founder of the AI platform used to make the videos also posted about the cease and desist letter he received . It's unclear what is in the letter, or if James' lawyers were also in touch with Meta about the videos. We've reached out to the company for more info on its rules. Of course, LeBron James is far from the only public figure to grapple with unwanted AI versions of themselves. Social media scammers routinely impersonate celebrities to promote sketchy products and other schemes. We've previously reported on such scams involving deepfakes of Elon Musk and Fox News personalities that have proliferated on Facebook. Jamie Lee Curtis also recently had to publicly plead with Mark Zuckerberg to take down deepfaked ads of herself. A still from a clip created with Google's Veo (left) and images generated by Meta AI (right) (Screenshots via Veo and Meta AI) But the videos of James are a little different. They don't feature fake endorsements and seem to be more of a prank meant to go viral in the way that lots of "AI slop" does. And James and other celebrities will likely continue to have a difficult time preventing these kinds of deepfakes from spreading. Some quick testing by Engadget showed that it's relatively easy to get AI chatbots to create images and video of "pregnant LeBron James." We first asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot to make such a photo. All chatbots initially refused, saying that such an image could go against their guidelines. But when given an image of James and asked to "make this person eight months pregnant," Google's Gemini delivered a 7-second clip of the basketball star cradling a pregnant belly. (We've reached out to Google to clarify its rules around such content.) Likewise, Meta AI seemingly had no reservations about producing images of "pregnant LeBron James" and promptly delivered many such variations. While these creations aren't as detailed as the initial video that went viral, they do highlight how difficult it can be for AI companies to prevent people from circumventing whatever guardrails may exist.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
AI referrals to top websites were up 357% year-over-year in June, reaching 1.13B
AI referrals to websites still have a way to go to catch up to the traffic that Google Search provides, but they're growing quickly. According to new data from market intelligence provider Similarweb, AI platforms in June generated over 1.13 billion referrals to the top 1,000 websites globally, a figure that's up 357% since June 2024. However, Google Search still accounts for the majority of traffic to these sites, accounting for 191 billion referrals during the same period of June 2025. One particular category of interest these days is news and media. Online publishers are seeing traffic declines and are preparing for a day they're calling 'Google Zero,' when Google stops sending traffic to websites. For instance, The Wall Street Journal recently reported on data that showed how AI overviews were killing traffic to news sites. Plus, a Pew Research Center study out this week found that in a survey of 900 U.S. Google users, 18% of some 69,000 searches showed AI Overviews, which led to users clicking links 8% of the time. When there was no AI summary, users clicked links nearly twice as much, or 15% of the time. Similarweb found that June's AI referrals to news and media websites were up 770% since June 2024. Some sites will naturally rank higher than others that are blocking access to AI platforms, as The New York Times does, as a result of its lawsuit with OpenAI over the use of its articles to train its models. In the news media category, Yahoo led with 2.3 million AI referrals in June 2025, followed by Yahoo Japan (1.9M), Reuters (1.8M), The Guardian (1.7M), India Times (1.2M), and Business Insider (1.0M). In terms of methodology, Similarweb counts AI referrals as web referrals to a domain from an AI platform like ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, Perplexity, Claude, and Liner. ChatGPT dominates here, accounting for more than 80% of the AI referrals to the top 1,000 domains. The company's analysis also looked at other categories beyond news, like e-commerce, science and education, tech/search/social media, arts and entertainment, business, and others. In e-commerce, Amazon was followed by Etsy and eBay when it came to those sites seeing the most referrals, at 4.5M, 2.0M, and 1.8M, respectively, during June. Among the top tech and social sites, Google, not surprisingly, was at the top of the list, with 53.1 million referrals in June, followed by Reddit (11.1M), Facebook (11.0M), Github (7.4M), Microsoft (5.1M), Canva (5.0M), Instagram (4.7M), LinkedIn (4.4M), Bing (3.1M), and Pinterest (2.5M). The analysis excluded the OpenAI website because so many of its referrals were from ChatGPT, pointing to its services. Across all other domains, the No. 1 site by AI referrals for each category included YouTube (31.2M), Research Gate (3.6M), Zillow (776.2K), (992.9K), Wikipedia (10.8M), (5.2M), (1.2M), Home Depot (1.2M), Kayak (456.5K), and Zara (325.6K). Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Android Authority
an hour ago
- Android Authority
Fresh Pixel 10 leak shows off the series in more than just Moonstone
Google TL;DR More renders of the Pixel 10 series have emerged online. This leak also includes images of the Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Buds Pro 2. It has been a busy week for Pixel 10 series leaks. Google even joined in on the fun by releasing a teaser, which was followed up by an accidental leak of official imagery. If that wasn't enough to satiate you until next month's Made by Google event, even more renders have now emerged. Earlier today, tipster Evan Blass took to X (formerly Twitter) to release a batch of good-quality renders of the Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, Pixel Buds Pro 2, and Pixel Watch 4. All of those renders featured the devices in their new gray color that Google has dubbed 'Moonstone.' However, it's believed that the color may be called 'Sterling' for Google's earbuds. If you were hoping to see some of the other color options, Blass has now shared a second wave of images. While we do see more of the Moonstone color here, we also get a glimpse at 'Indigo' (blue), 'Jade' (green with gold trim), and 'Obsidian' (black). The Indigo colorway will be exclusive to the base model, while Jade will be available across the Pro models. Tagging along, the Pixel Watch 4 and Pixel Buds Pro 2 also make an appearance in these images. This leak reveals that Pixel Buds Pro 2's new colorway will be Moonstone. Meanwhile, the Pixel Watch 4 has a purple Active Band attached that's believed to be called 'Iris.' The new Pixel family is scheduled to launch on August 20. Rumors claim that the base Pixel 10 will cost $799, $999 for the Pixel 10 Pro, and $1,199 for the 10 Pro XL. It's still unclear what Google will charge for its foldable.
