Google is aggressively advancing its vision of AI that can act independently on behalf of users, as revealed in its latest Project Astra developments at Google I/O 2025.
Project Astra, described by Google as a "universal AI agent that is helpful in everyday life," has evolved significantly since its initial unveiling. The system now demonstrates more sophisticated agentic capabilities, allowing it to understand context and take actions without additional prompting. In a striking demonstration, Google showed how pointing a smartphone camera at a written invitation enables the AI to automatically add the event to a user's calendar.
"Astra can choose when to talk based on events it sees," explained Greg Wayne, co-lead of the Astra team, highlighting the shift from reactive assistance to proactive engagement. This represents a key advancement in Google's strategy to maintain its dominance in how people access and interact with information online.
The company also unveiled new Android XR glasses featuring Gemini-powered augmented reality capabilities. These glasses, developed in partnership with Samsung and fashion brands like Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, offer live language translation and can display information directly in the user's line of sight. Google has committed up to $150 million to its partnership with Warby Parker, underscoring the strategic importance of this initiative.
Additionally, Google expanded its AI mode in Search, which now draws information from users' emails for personalized results and introduces virtual clothing try-on capabilities. The new feature allows users to upload a single photo of themselves to visualize how billions of apparel items would look on their body, with the AI accounting for how different materials fold and stretch. Google's agentic checkout feature can even complete purchases when items reach a user-specified price point.
These developments collectively represent Google's comprehensive strategy to integrate agentic AI capabilities across its ecosystem, potentially transforming how users interact with technology in their daily lives.