Summary

  • Google Gemini is expanding into VR with Samsung’s upcoming mixed reality headset, showing off its AI capabilities.
  • Tech commentator Bilawal Sidhu highlighted Gemini’s role, powering various use cases with Google Maps on the user-friendly Android XR platform.
  • Google’s integration of multimodal AI into everything, like Gemini in Android XR, is making waves in the mixed-reality space with user-friendly commands.



Today was a big day for Google Gemini, because it just expanded into the world of VR. Google showcased its new Android XR platform for mixed-reality headsets, using a new Samsung VR headset, codenamed Project Moohan, with Gemini AI running on it. The AI looked right at home on the headset, which is running on Google’s newly announced Android XR platform.

Image of Samsung's upcoming VR/AR headset, code named Project Moohan, overlaid on a blue background, with Google TV, YouTube, and Google Photos logos shown.

Related

Android XR software: Here are the VR games and AR apps coming to the new OS

Not an expansive library, but it’s definitely a start

1

Tech commentator Bilawal Sidhu shared the first glimpse we’ve had of Project Moohan during a special live demonstration of Android XR. The demo showcased Gemini’s ability to power different use cases, with apps like Google Maps taking center stage alongside the fluid and user-friendly interface of Android XR.




Gemini’s role in Android XR points to Google’s big plans

Google’s broad strategy is to integrate multimodal AI into everything. Gemini is the current consumer-facing version of that vision, built to process text, images, and more. This makes it well-suited for mixed-reality applications, where simply summoning Gemini to perform tasks is user-friendly and practical.

We just learned that Google is working on a “Hey, Gemini” voice command to summon Gemini, and then we saw it in action in this video. The entire platform closely mirrors the Project Astra demo we saw at Google I/O earlier this year, but this time those concepts are real, with real hardware and software, thanks to Samsung.

Project Moohan and Android XR

We only started hearing about Android XR recently, mainly because it’s built with Gemini AI at its core, and, well, Gemini hasn’t been around too long. Project Moohan is Samsung’s long-rumored VR headset. We finally got to see both of these developments merged together at this live demo.


Samsung’s headset is expected to launch officially in March 2025. The company will likely build on this demo with even more integrations and features, and we’ve even heard a developer version is on the way. The merging of multimodal AI with virtual reality makes this an exciting time for Android.

Man wearing VR goggles in blue light.

Related

AR, VR, XR: What’s the difference?

Let’s define reality with a close look at AR, VR, MR, and other technologies to see what they mean