Artificial Intelligence
Google tests Gemini business-calling feature
Google said it was testing Call for Me, a Gemini feature that would place business calls for users, starting with Pixel 11 owners in the U.S. who paid for Gemini.
- Google said Call for Me would let Gemini call businesses for users.
- The test would begin with U.S. Pixel 11 owners who had a Gemini subscription and the beta Google Phone app for Android.
- Google said users could approve personal details, watch the call in a live transcript and take over at any point.
- The company said the system could check stock, make reservations, move appointments and place items on hold.
- Google said the rollout was small because spoken exchanges were difficult to manage and the feature followed earlier calling tools such as Ask for Me, Hold for Me, Talk to a Live Rep and Direct My Call.
Google said Call for Me was an experiment that would let Gemini telephone businesses for users. It would first reach U.S. Pixel 11 owners with a Gemini subscription, and it required the beta version of Google’s Phone app on Android.
The company said people would choose which personal details Gemini could share during a call. Users could watch a live transcript and take over the conversation at any point.
Google said the system could check stock, make restaurant bookings, move appointments and place items on hold. It would also be able to introduce itself, work through automated menus and wait until a person answered.
Google said the feature built on earlier work on automated calling, including Ask for Me, Hold for Me, Talk to a Live Rep and Direct My Call. It said the rollout was small because spoken exchanges were difficult to handle reliably.
Named in this story
Companies
- said it was testing the feature
- Meta
- was cited as having other AI calling agents
Products and systems
- Gemini
- would place calls on users’ behalf
- Call for Me
- was the new calling feature under test
- Pixel 11
- was the first phone line slated for the test
- Google Phone app
- had to be installed in beta form
- Android
- was the platform for the Phone app
- Muse
- was one of Meta’s calling agents
- Instinct
- was another Meta calling agent
- Google Assistant
- was used in an earlier calling demo
- Ask for Me
- was a previous Gemini calling feature
- Hold for Me
- could wait on hold for users
- Talk to a Live Rep
- could navigate phone trees
- Direct My Call
- showed numbers for IVR navigation
Places
- U.S.
- was the initial rollout market
How the source tells it
The article read like a routine product launch note with a mild promotional sheen from Google's own descriptions.
- novelty the feature was presented as the latest step in Google’s long-running AI calling experiments
- vendor boosterism Google’s capability claims were repeated from the company without independent testing