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In a time where hybrid work, virtual conferences and Zoom happy hours took over our daily lives, platforms like Zoom and Google Meet have shaped the way we interact today. These platforms are still very much a second-best option.

Not your ordinary video chat: why Starline’s different

What we’re building with Project Starline is not an improvement over existing solutions. It’s a completely different way to think about video calling. Starline produces a holographic likeness of the person you’re talking to, powered by cutting-edge artificial intelligence, depth sensors, light-field displays, and real-time rendering.

So you don’t have to worry about awkwardly trying to capture the right shot, or getting the angles just right. You literally sit down and talk, and the technology takes care of the rest to bring the person on the other side there in all their glory, with natural eye contact and lifelike gestures.

Zoom and Meet: convenient but impersonal

While Zoom and Google Meet may have been the saviours of remote work when the pandemic hit, they’ve done a great service to millions of teams across the world by allowing diverse teams to work together and still feel like a unit. Even with such high bandwidth and camera improvements, they still look and sound like you’re talking through a glass door.

These tools were never designed to replace presence. They were designed for function. Starline flips it by designing experiences that focus on the emotional need to feel together , even when physically apart.

Starline has the potential to the current offerings

Whether it’s virtual healthcare, high-stakes corporate negotiations, remote education, or anywhere people would use call centres to interact, this will impact them. In each of these spaces, body language, eye contact, presence , everything matters just as much as words.

For many of these use cases, legacy platforms such as Zoom can quickly begin to seem insufficient. With Starline, conversations feel deeper, more engaging, and much more like in-person dialogue. We know that people engage and react differently when they feel like there is a real person in front of them and perhaps nobody understands that better than Google.

So is it really going to replace Zoom or Meet.

Not right away—and not in all the ways you might think. Perhaps the most significant obstacle to Project Starline is its unique hardware configuration. As it stands, the technology needs specialized sensors and displays. That’s quite a jump from simply opening a laptop and clicking an email link.

Even though the experience is extraordinary, it’s early days. Zoom and Meet are easy to use, low barrier, and inexpensive. That leaves them a long life still in daily communication. As Starline gets smaller, lighter and cheaper it might slowly become a mainstay in offices, boardrooms, clinics and maybe even luxury home rigs.

Merging people-based communication with technological innovation

Similar to the revolution occurring in communication tools, SEO and content strategies are undergoing a transformational shift. Tools such as Seobix allow smart, proactive teams to monitor how behaviours with search are evolving due to new technology, in particular ground-breaking applications such as Starline.

For good reason too—for example, if 3D video calling ended up being the default, the user intent, the intent of the device, and the content format would require a whole new approach. Getting ahead of that transition now is the key to being competitive in the future.

Conclusion

Google launches “AI Ultra,” a premium AI subscription, and “Google Beam,” a 3D communication platform.

Google just announced Google Beam, their AI-first 3D video communication technology originally known as Project Starline, and Google AI Ultra, a new Google One premium AI subscription package. These statements show Google's commitment to offering customers and businesses cutting-edge AI.

Unique Access to Google AI's Best Features

Google AI Ultra gives users the best access to Google's strongest AI models and premium features. Users who “demand the absolute best of Google AI,” such as engineers, filmmakers, and creatives, can get a “VIP pass to Google Al”.

Google AI Ultra costs $249.99 a month in the US. First-time users get 50% discount for three months. Google says AI Ultra will soon be available in more countries.

The subscription has many benefits:

Users can access the “absolute best version” of the Gemini app with the highest usage limits for Deep Research and Veo 2 video creation. Subscribers also get early access to the revolutionary Veo 3 model. It is made for complex tasks like coding, research, and painting. Ultra subscribers will get Deep Think in 2.5 Pro, a new advanced thinking mode, in the coming weeks.

Flow: Google DeepMind's next AI filmmaking tool for the most advanced models (Veo, Imagen, and Gemini). With intuitive prodding, it creates cinematic sequences, fragments, and coherent stories. Flow's biggest limits come from Google AI Ultra, which offers early access to Veo 3, advanced camera capabilities, and 1080p video output.

Whisk: A text and graphic suggestion tool for rapid thought exploration and visualisation. Google AI Ultra sets the maximum bounds for Whisk Animate, which uses Veo 2 to create vivid eight-second videos from images.

NotebookLM: Later this year, users will have access to maximum usage constraints and improved model features for project work, instruction, and study.

This feature makes Gemini accessible in Google Docs, Vids, and Gmail, simplifying daily tasks.

This feature gives Chrome users early access to Gemini starting May 21, 2025. This feature helps users understand complex content and complete online activities using the page's context. Chrome users with Google AI Pro will also get early access to Gemini.

Project Mariner: The project contains an agentic research prototype that can manage up to ten tasks via a dashboard, including bookings, purchases, and research.

YouTube Premium offers offline, ad-free, and background viewing and listening to YouTube and YouTube Music.

30 TB of storage: Stores important information and creations in Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos.

Additionally, Google revealed that their AI Premium subscription has been rebranded Google AI Pro and will be improved for free. Google AI Pro clients will soon get access to artificial intelligence filmmaking in Flow using the Veo 2 model and early access to Gemini in Chrome. These Google AI Pro benefits will first be offered in the US before going abroad. Japanese, Brazilian, Indonesian, and UK university students will also receive free Google AI Pro for a year.

3D Video Communication: Google Beam Powered by AI

Google Beam, originally Project Starline, is a revolutionary 3D video communication platform for deeper partnerships. Project Starline sought to make video communication feel like being in the same room without glasses or headsets.

Google Beam will employ AI to create location-independent, meaningful interactions using new devices. A cutting-edge AI volumetric video model turns 2D video broadcasts into lifelike 3D experiences for more natural conversation. Based on Google Cloud's strength, size, and AI capabilities, the platform offers enterprise-grade reliability and workflow compatibility. The AI video model and light field display appear to create a profound sense of depth and dimensionality, enabling eye contact, subtle clue reading, and face-to-face understanding.

Google is studying speech translation via Google Beam to improve worldwide communication. This near-real-time translation technology, coming to Google Meet, makes faraway interactions feel more physically present despite language and distance constraints by retaining voice, tone, and expressions. Google Meet will initially translate conversation in English and Spanish, adding more languages soon.

Zoom and HP are helping Google Beam reach the office. HP will debut its first Google Beam devices at InfoComm and release them to a select group of clients later this year. Google is working with Diversified and AVI-SPL to introduce Google Beam to businesses worldwide. Deloitte, Salesforce, Citadel, NEC, Hackensack Meridian Health, Duolingo, and Recruit are reportedly ready to apply it for employees.

Google says the debut of Google AI Ultra and the transfer of Project Starline into Google Beam will increase access to Google AI's best features, improving productivity, creativity, and knowledge.