We’ve all been waiting for the first good AI wearables to come along. There have been tons of attempts, from wrist-worn recording devices to pins with lasers to glasses with cameras. Company’s are throwing everything at the wall to see what might stick. Some of these gadgets have been pretty decent, namely Meta’s Ray Ban collaboration. The idea is sound but the AI has been mediocre. As cameras, they’re wonderful but as an AI gadget they’re mid at best. Perhaps that’s why Mark Zuckerberg has been on a rampant AI hiring spree. While that was happening though, Google dropped something that might just shake up the game. Gemini has finally arrived on Wear OS watches like the Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch. And guess what? It’s really freaking good.

While Wear OS is far from the most popular wearable platform, it is a strong one. Google has really fleshed out its own app ecosystem for it despite a serious lack of third party options. But with Gemini, the app ecosystem might just be completely irrelevant. This is not some sort of baby version of Gemini, it is the full fledged thing. I can now ask my Pixel Watch about my inbox, my documents, about maps, about YouTube, about anything that Gemini already has access to on my phone or on the web. It even has memory, recalling what we’ve talked about across devices and all of the details that I have given it about myself. Suffice to say, it now blows the Apple Watch away with what it can do out of the box. Yes, the Apple Watch has a fairly strong third-party app ecosystem but apps were never the right metaphor for smartwatches. Google had it right with the original Android Wear and Google Now. Pebble had it with the timeline on Pebble Time. And yes, Apple finally has it with the smart stack and widgets. They’re way more proactive than they have ever been. But AI takes that to a whole new level. Not only does it know all about me, my needs, my content, my work, and so on, it also can think for me.

The Pixel Watch with Gemini is now the definitive AI wearable. There’s no question in my mind. Gemini is really good right now and I would wager that many of you are already using at least one or two Google apps that it can connect with. We also now know that Google is absolutely killing it with Gemini, the threat that appeared to be ChatGPT seems to have been largely stunted. The two offerings are now on largely equal footing in terms of usage, even if ChatGPT has seemingly become to de facto option for most people. Google is tremendously well-positioned to be the first true AI wearable company that can deliver on the promises of these kinds of devices. Llama at the moment can’t deliver on these things through the Meta Ray Bans, either because it just simply isn’t good enough or because it lacks access to your personal information. But Gemini has all of this context.

I’m one of the lucky few who got a chance to try the Gemini glasses at Google I/O. They were awesome, Google seems to have nailed an implementation that largely still feels like regular glasses while adding just enough technology for there to be visuals in one of the lenses. Like on the watch, I could talk to Gemini and see its responses. Unlike the watch, it could see what I could see. That alone makes gives glasses an upper hand over watches. But what if cameras return to smartwatches? Yes, I said return! Recall that the earliest Samsung watches had cameras. With how important visual context is now to AI, I can see them making a comeback. Glasses are going to be a hard sell for lots of folks, but watches? Tons of people already own and love smart watches. Cameras on a watch would also be far more privacy friendly, not constantly in your face and easily covered up. I ultimately think Google might just pull this off. Apple’s problem isn’t that it couldn’t make a beautiful pair of glasses and they already make a stupendous watch. Their problem is they need the AI and their current partner in OpenAI is already developing its own hardware. Google isn’t just going to get there first, they’re already there. You can go buy a Pixel Watch today and start using Gemini for $249. That’s cheaper than the Meta Ray Bans and it has better AI, a display, and health tracking.

It’s pretty clear to me after spending several days using Gemini on the Pixel Watch, that the watch is the right AI form factor. At least for now. Glasses will almost certainly become important, but likely supplemental given the privacy nightmare that comes with them and the fact that they need to go on your face. If you’re not already a glasses wearer, your AI glasses better provide a ton of benefits. Watches have been worn for hundreds of years and that will continue unabated. But now, they’re going to know everything about you and be able to act like an agent that goes with you everywhere. It’s just a shame that the best option only works natively with Android.

I’ve been using Gemini on the Pixel Watch 2, though it is also rolling out to all Wear OS 4.0+ devices.