Exclusive look at Google Beam’s new AI with a human face

We’re the first journalists ever to set foot in the Google Beam labs — where we met Sophie, an experimental Google AI agent with a face! Video calls with AI are one of the surprises at this year’s Google I/O, alongside experimental support for laptops, desktops, and phones to join Google Beam video calls too. As ever, the coolest thing about Beam is the 3D presence of your conversation partner, and neither experiment features that yet, but we also learned how the 3D effect actually works in practice. 0:00 Intro 0:24 First impressions of Google Beam 0:42 Introducing Sophie, Google's AI agent 1:19 Sophie's capabilities 2:13 Can Sophie put me in a story? 2:42 Sophie's limitations 3:15 Google explains Sophie's design choices 3:37 How Google Beam's 3D display works 3:54 Inside the light field display technology 5:18 Cloud rendering & group chat feature 5:39 Conclusion Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Like The Verge on Facebook: https://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Twitter: https://goo.gl/XTWX61 Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLv Watch The Vergecast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/40RFRkg The Vergecast Podcast: https://bit.ly/3WQDexZ Decoder with Nilay Patel: http://apple.co/3v29nDc More about our podcasts: https://www.theverge.com/podcasts Read More: http://www.theverge.com Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Wallpapers from The Verge: https://bit.ly/2xQXYJr Shop our Verge merch store here: https://bit.ly/4kPCmEc Subscribe to The Verge: https://bit.ly/3FT6n5S Subscribe to The Vergecast on YouTube, new episodes on Tuesday and Friday: https://bit.ly/3I6nJtz If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: https://bit.ly/3ZWTlLs