With the advent of 5G connectivity, augmented reality glasses (mixed reality), our emerging economy of trillions of sensors, and powerful AI, we have gained the ability to overlay digital information onto physical environments — opening a window of entirely unexplored opportunities.
Imagine walking into a future Apple Store and a life-size avatar of Steve Jobs materializes to greet you and walk you through the latest product features. The Jobs avatar might be a stretch — and perhaps even unsettling — yet with nothing more than a voice command, it is replaced by floating (holographic) text, and a list of information hovers in the air before you every time you focus on a product.
Or imagine visiting your new girlfriend's home for the first time — you would score major points by saying: "Dinner's on me tonight." But what if you can't even fry an egg? Don't panic: the artificial intelligence in your mixed reality glasses will generate a recipe the moment you show it the available ingredients. Admittedly, not the most honest approach — but you can always come clean afterward, and I suspect it will make for a good laugh.
Based on your browsing history, the glasses can remind you that the item you were searching for online is available at a store right across the street.
A new way of offering products and services is emerging on the horizon. Whoever masters this technology will be able to present those products at the most opportune moment for you (hopefully) — or at the moment you are most likely to buy them (hopefully not). These companies would earn commissions on every product sold through the glasses.
An early version of this reality is already available. Known as "visual search," the feature is currently being offered by a variety of companies.
For example, a partnership between Snapchat and Amazon allows you to point the app's camera at an object and receive a link showing that exact product — or something similar — available for purchase.
Meanwhile, Pinterest offers several visual search tools, such as Shop the Look, which tags every object in a photo. Like the sofa? Click the dot. The site will find similar products for sale. Or try Lens, its real-time visual search tool. Point the app's camera at a scene and the app will generate links to every product in that scene.
Google takes things a step further. Launched in 2017, the Google Lens app is a general-purpose visual search engine. It does far more than identify products for sale; it decodes an entire scene. You can learn whatever you wish: the botanical breakdown of plants in a flower bed, the breeds of dogs playing in a park, the history of the buildings lining a city street.
And IKEA went even further. Using their AR app via smartphone, you can map your living room into a digital version with exact dimensions. Need a new coffee table? Their technology lets you try out different styles and sizes. Your selection triggers a smart payment and, just like that, a customized IKEA coffee table is delivered to your door. Need help assembling it? Their AR app can guide you through the process step by step.
All of this competition in visual search has accelerated development, driving higher consumer adoption rates. As more people use these systems, more data is fed back to the AI that powers them. In the fall of 2018, this feedback loop pushed visual searches to one billion queries per month.
Virtually every global brand is gearing up for a world of "point, shoot, and shop." But it could get even more disruptive.