AR’s initial offerings are services such as overlaying instructions or translations on the real world, or participating in virtual meetings.¹⁶. Near real-time interaction is already possible , and AR is now useable in engineering and medical applications. Eventually, AR glasses will be able to integrate complex virtual objects into real-world scenes. However, this will require significant breakthroughs in 3D scene reconstruction¹⁷ and low-latency graphics to improve realism.

Future Horizons:

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5-yearhorizon

AR overlays for simple information

AR is primarily used as a display replacement, overlaying simple information like navigation instructions, translations or diagnostics, or allowing people to make video calls. User interfaces become standardised, making it easier to switch between AR apps. Breakthroughs in continual-learning AI begin to make it possible for AR software to adapt to users, and to enable collaboration and shared experiences.

10-yearhorizon

Consumer-grade glasses and adaptive user interfaces

AI-powered adaptive user interfaces that can understand the environment and personalise themselves to a user's preferences will have been perfected in time for the release of consumer-grade AR glasses. Smart glasses become the primary way for people to interact with AI, providing users with always-on AI support in their everyday lives. The boundary between AR and VR becomes blurred as breakthroughs in graphics enable complex virtual content.

25-yearhorizon

Individually tailored reality becomes the norm

Virtual content becomes indistinguishable from reality thanks to dramatic improvements in graphics and associated technology. Each AR user now has a personalised AI assistant that continually tailors their experience of reality to optimise all aspects of their life.

More ambitiously, AR could unlock an entirely new technological paradigm. “Spatial computing” envisages devices that can understand and interact with their surroundings.¹⁸ Sensor-laden smart glasses that project digital content onto the user’s environment could bring the idea to life. This transition will be tightly coupled to advances in AI. Increasingly powerful computer vision will allow devices to understand their spatial context, while language and voice capabilities will provide a natural, hands-free way to interface with them.¹⁹

A crucial aspect will be innovations in user experience:²⁰ how to present virtual content to people in ways that are both intuitive and powerful. This will require some standardisation in interfaces so that people can seamlessly switch between AR apps. Always-on AR will require careful design to ensure that users aren’t overwhelmed with information or notifications.

To achieve this, AR devices will have to become adaptive, using AI to analyse data from physiological sensors and cameras to understand the user. This will require breakthroughs in continual learning²¹ — so that AI can update models of the user on the fly — and activity recognition,²² so that AR devices can understand the user's context and anticipate their needs.

Augmented experiences - Anticipation Scores

The Anticipation Potential of a research field is determined by the capacity for impactful action in the present, considering possible future transformative breakthroughs in a field over a 25-year outlook. A field with a high Anticipation Potential, therefore, combines the potential range of future transformative possibilities engendered by a research area with a wide field of opportunities for action in the present. We asked researchers in the field to anticipate:

The uncertainty related to future science breakthroughs in the field
The transformative effect anticipated breakthroughs may have on research and society
The scope for action in the present in relation to anticipated breakthroughs.

This chart represents a summary of their responses to each of these elements, which when combined, provide the Anticipation Potential for the topic. See methodology for more information.