Google's new Project Astra could be generative AI's killer app

MIT Technology Review got to try out Astra in a closed-door live demo last week. It was a stunning experience, but there's a gulf between polished promo and live demo. Astra uses Gemini 2.0's built-in agent framework to answer questions and carry out tasks via text, speech, image, and video, calling up existing Google apps like Search, Maps, and Lens when it needs to. "It's merging together some of the most powerful information retrieval systems of our time," says Bibo Xu, product manager for Astra. Gemini 2.0 and Astra are joined by Mariner, a new agent built on top of Gemini that can browse the web for you; Jules, a new Gemini-powered coding assistant; and Gemini for Games, an experimental assistant that you can chat to and ask for tips as you play video games.