A Glimpse into the Future of Ad-Blocking Technology: Augmented Reality Glasses Take Aim at Real-Life Advertising
AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication
When browsing the internet, a browser plugin can easily block annoying ads that clutter our screens. However, we cannot do the same for ads in real life. Or can we? A software engineer has made significant progress in developing an experiment with a pair of smart augmented reality glasses that can block ads in real life. The glasses, worn like regular spectacles, use a red rectangle to block visual clutter from our view when we look at a billboard or even the label on a food container. Stijn Spanhove, the engineer behind this innovation from Belgium, expressed excitement about the possibilities. "It's still early and experimental, but it's exciting to imagine a future where you control the physical content you see," he said. The real-life ad blocker utilizes Snapchat's Spectacles, a pair of chunky black smart glasses built for augmented reality applications. Spanhove employed Google's Gemini AI model to identify advertisements in real life and block them from view. Although the system still needs refinement, the potential is immense. When watching the glasses in action, there's a momentary lag before the glasses pick up the presence of an ad and block it. In response to his original post, Spanhove indicated his intention to further develop his app. He envisions replacing the red block with other images of the user's choice. This is not the first attempt at creating an ad-blocking device. Back in 2015, a group of college students in Pennsylvania developed a head-mounted device that used image processing software to blur out advertisements in real life. However, the device was cumbersome and never gained traction. The smart glasses industry has faced significant setbacks, most notably the failed launch of Google Glass. Nevertheless, Spanhove's experiment offers a promising direction for the future of ad-blocking technology. The possibility of controlling the physical content we see is an exciting prospect, and it will be interesting to follow the development of this innovative technology.
