If you’ve ever wanted to block advertisements in real life, a man has finally found a way to do so, and it could be the start of a sci-fi horror movie.
On June 19, software engineer Stijn Spanhove revealed he had been working on an XR app for Snapchat’s Spectacles, see-through AR glasses powered by Snap OS.
According to Spanhove, he managed to get Gemini AI to detect ads in the real world and then “block” them.
Essentially, it’s like an ad blocker for browsers, but instead of preventing pop-ups or ads from showing up on a screen, they’ll be replaced when looking at them through Spectacles.
The early results have been a big hit, and Spanhove has even bigger plans for where he wants to take the app.
IRL adblocker completely removes advertisements like billboards
In the early experimental footage, Spanhove walked up to an insurance advertisement on a wall and his Spectacles put a red rectangle over it, completely blocking the ad.
In another clip, a box of pasta and can of Coke were hidden by red bars. Not quite an advertisement per se, but proof that the app could hide product placement.
Even ads put in newspapers weren’t safe, as the app would detect them as the user reads and block them as well.
“It’s still early and experimental, but it’s exciting to imagine a future where you control the physical content you see,” he said.
Many fans, while supporters of the app, felt that the red overlay felt “jarring,” but Spanhove has plans to fix it up and was open to ideas.
Of note, he agreed that replacing the red overlay with top priorities from to do list or something personalized was “genius.”
As cool as this app might be with ads, it could be a sign of things to come, especially if it’s possible to block certain people from appearing at all, like in the Black Mirror episode ‘White Christmas.’
We’ll have to see if this project becomes more mainstream or if Google finds a way to shut it down, given the company’s distaste for ad blockers.
Content shared from www.dexerto.com.