Snap Expands SPECS AR Glasses With New AI Features
Snap has announced new services, augmented reality experiences and partnerships for SPECS, its computer built into a pair of augmented reality glasses. The company has also introduced SPECS Intelligence, an anticipatory artificial intelligence service designed to work across iPhone, Mac and SPECS AR glasses.
The announcements build on Snap’s stated aim of developing computing around people and how they interact with the world. The company said it began work on the system more than a decade ago, to make computing more closely connected to human activity rather than separate people from their surroundings.
SPECS are built around how people interact with the physical world, which Snap describes as seeing what is around them, thinking about what to do, and then acting. The glasses use see-through lenses to place digital experiences within the user’s surroundings. Their AI-native operating system is designed to help users complete tasks through natural interactions using their hands and voice. The glasses have computing hardware built directly in, without a separate puck or tether.
Snap has announced new augmented reality experiences, SPECS Intelligence, partnerships across industries, a new SPECS Charging Case with Cellular and SPECS First Look at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles. Consumers can try SPECS in person at the Los Angeles location starting 1 October.
SPECS Intelligence is designed to build an understanding of a user’s goals, priorities, relationships and routines from the applications and tools they choose to connect. Snap said the service is intended to help users focus on what needs attention while making progress towards longer-term goals.
Rather than waiting for a prompt, SPECS Intelligence is designed to anticipate when assistance could be useful and surface relevant information and actions at the right moment. On SPECS AR glasses, the service can extend that personal context into the physical world by bringing relevant information directly into the user’s view.
In the United States, people aged 18 and over can download the SPECS app for iOS and try the SPECS Intelligence preview. Users can also join the waitlist at specs.com/intelligence or through the SPECS app for invitation-only early access to the fuller SPECS Intelligence experience on Mac. Snap said it will offer the early-access experience through the SPECS Mac app.
The glasses are also being used for augmented reality experiences covering sport, fitness, entertainment and education. Snap is working with the NBA and WNBA on interactive basketball experiences that use a real ball and hoop. SPECS can place visual guidance, drills and progress cues over the surrounding environment to support basketball practice.
ALO Wellness Club is due to bring movement, recovery and mindfulness experiences to SPECS next year. The guided experiences are designed to extend those activities beyond the mat, including while users walk through a park, stretch at home, or take a moment to reset between meetings.
The Soccer Skills Lens provides a virtual training course with dribbling drills that become progressively more challenging as users advance. A golf Lens helps users work on swing mechanics or their putting stroke. Developed with guidance from PGA Professionals, the golf experience can analyse golf movements and provide personalised advice.
Snap is also working with HBO Max to bring Harry Potter experiences to SPECS AR glasses, tied to the new HBO Original Series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, premiering this Christmas. The Harry Potter Lens allows users to enter moments from the story, including receiving a Hogwarts acceptance letter, choosing a wand and casting spells.
SPECS also include educational experiences. Artificial intelligence on the glasses can provide contextual information within the user’s view or help users learn about their surroundings. Educational Lenses can also provide information about specific subjects.
The Apollo 11 Lens uses an interactive virtual recreation of the historic Moon mission to bring history and science into the user’s space. Starmap overlays constellations onto the user’s surroundings, letting users explore the stars from different locations and times.
For entertainment, the SPECS browser supports streaming from YouTube, HBO Max and other services. Snap said the browser can provide a virtual display that feels like a 115-inch cinema screen positioned about 10 feet away. SPECS also have a Travel Mode designed to keep the screen stable while the wearer is on a moving train or aircraft.
Spotify is available for music and podcast discovery. Users can tell SPECS what they are in the mood for or take a photograph, after which Spotify can recommend a playlist based on the situation.
SPECS also supports common experiences. Connected Lenses allow digital experiences to be used in the same physical space. Examples include Jimmy Butler’s Dominoes Lens and Chess and Table Tennis, which let users interact with friends through shared augmented reality experiences.
When users are apart, Bluetooth pairing lets SPECS connect to a phone for calls, notifications, and music while keeping the user’s hands free. Snap has also redesigned Snapchat for the AR glasses. Users can take a Snap by snapping their fingers or start a hands-free video call.
Snap has highlighted privacy as part of SPECS’ design. The company said the glasses do not use facial recognition to identify people or record the world to understand it. Snap also said SPECS do not continuously record or save audio, video or photographs.
When a wearer takes a photograph or records video or audio, a prominent external LED in the centre of the frames lights up or flashes. Snap said this allows people nearby to see that recording is taking place. Users can choose which information and services SPECS can access, while Lenses request permission before accessing sensitive information.
For SPECS Intelligence, users choose which accounts to connect and what information the service can use. Snap said its personnel cannot view or access the personal content used with the service. The company also said it will not use personal content from connected accounts to train or fine-tune its artificial intelligence models or to serve personalised advertisements.
Snap said SPECS Intelligence uses on-device processing and secure cloud infrastructure, with security protections wherever data is processed. The company has positioned the service as a system that can carry personal context across iPhone, Mac and SPECS AR glasses while bringing relevant information into view when users wear the glasses.
