Artificial intelligence for health and fitness is one of the most disturbing — and one of the most promising — things I can think of. For the last few days, it’s been more of the latter. I’m wearing Google’s new Fitbit Air tracker and have access to an early prerelease build of Google Health, which replaces the Fitbit app but adds a Gemini layer.
And yet, is it strange that this 24-7 screenless, lightweight tracker with a built-in coach makes me think of smart glasses?
Of course it does, you say. Scott, you think about smart glasses all the time. And especially now, since Google is expected to launch a full line of smart glasses from its eyewear partners sometime this year. We’ll hear more about it at the Google I/O developer conference in just a few days.
AI-powered tech and smart devices are pressing up against every core activity in our lives. When used in health apps, AI can distill large amounts of data collected hourly, which can feel incredibly useful or intrusive… or just annoying. It’s also a sign of how data-hungry tech companies could be trying to absorb and synthesize all aspects of us at once.
It would make a lot of sense to review my Fitbit stats and get fitness summaries on Google’s upcoming glasses, not just on my phone. Gemini’s generative AI, which summarizes my health and fitness progress and can chat with me on the fly in the new Google Health app, would be an even better on-glasses fitness companion. This is where I imagine Google is headed next.
The Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses already blend Garmin fitness data with smart glasses. Google could and should do the same.
Fitness and glasses are already a thing
Let’s look at Meta for a counterexample. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has been steering its wearables division straight toward the fitness lifestyle crowd, especially via Oakley-branded glasses. Meta’s Oakley Vanguards, released last fall, are specifically designed for active sports. Meta has partnered with Garmin to sync fitness data, too.
But Meta’s fitness capabilities are limited at best. Garmin doesn’t sync into Meta AI, and the surfacing of fitness stats in glasses doesn’t happen as much as you might expect.
Google has a major advantage here, named Gemini. With Fitbit now flowing into a Gemini-infused Google Health app with a subscription-required health coach, it makes sense that Google’s camera-, display- and audio-enabled glasses would draw from the same well of interconnected data.
And even if the Fitbit brand is fading in Google’s new Health app, Fitbit’s status as a wearables pioneer since 2009 could lend new fitness-targeted glasses a unique edge.
Gemini is Google’s wearables bridge, Fitbit and otherwise
My early impressions of Google Health’s Gemini coach are sometimes weird. I don’t know what to ask it or how I should proceed. But I love being able to see extended summaries of data — sleep, restfulness, trends or whatever else. I could ask for these on the go, or set goals while running or workouts.
The pieces are all there. Now Google just needs to hook all this up to their upcoming phone-connected glasses. And that’s exactly what I expect will happen at Google I/O, or shortly after.
Meta already has a big footprint in smart glasses, while Google will have to win people over. Warby Parker and Gentle Monster could help, for sure. And Google already has a massive win in the fitness space with Fitbit, which it’s owned for the last five years. Knowing that its glasses are Fitbit-compatible could be enough to encourage some athletes to hop aboard.
Or will it be a bigger challenge than that? Google’s acquisition of Fitbit and removal of the Fitbit app entirely might drive away original Fitbit fans who feel like Google has pulled the rug out from under them. Will Google find a way to surface the Fitbit experience in other ways, on glasses, in Gemini or elsewhere? Can it capitalize on the fitness experience it already has under its belt?
We’ll know more soon enough. Google’s glasses look capable of running every piece of Gemini that runs on our phones, including health. That alone might give it the edge, making Meta quickly feel the need to play catch-up.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
