Google Introduces AI-Powered Note-Taking in Google Meet with Gemini

Gemini Will Now Take Notes For You During Google Meet Calls

Google has made a lot of pitches about the future of AI. It wants AI to be the new face of search, (though that rollout's going quite poorly), and it wants AI to be the selling point for its newest smartphones -- but as Lifehacker's Associate Tech Editor Michelle Ehrhardt discovered, even the Pixel 9 Pro's AI features feel half baked. As tired as many of us may be of underwhelming experiences with AI, useful applications of the technology are still more than welcome. Perhaps that will be the case with "take notes for me," a new Google Meet feature that is finally rolling out this week. "Take notes for me" might not be the flashiest name, but it is apt. When enabled, Gemini, Google's AI platform, will automatically organize and summarize everything that was said during a Google Meet video call. When the call is finished, Gemini will save its notes to the meeting organizer's Google Drive, and will attach the file to the Google Calendar event, so anyone who was invited to the meeting can check it out. Gemini will include a brief summary of the call in its meeting notes before diving into more detailed breakdowns of what was said, but you can also view a summary "so far" while the meeting is in progress. If you join the meeting late, you can catch up on both the gist of the discussion, as well as the last thing that was said. You can rate these in-meeting summaries, so if you feel Gemini missed the mark with its interpretation, you can give it that feedback. Google has been testing this feature since at least April, and began rolling it out to eligible Google Workspace customers on Tuesday. By Sept. 10, it should be available to all applicable users. In order to take advantage of this unique AI feature, you or your company will need to be subscribed to Google Workspace with a qualifying add-on plan. That includes: Let's say your work or school has paid for one of these add-ons. The feature will be enabled by default on the admin's end, so you shouldn't have to request it from your IT department. On your end, you'll need to be using a computer or a laptop. (This feature isn't available on mobile at this time.) Gemini will only be able to transcribe conversations in English, as well. With all that in mind, start a Google Meet call, then click Take notes with Gemini, which looks like an blue and purple icon of a pen. Choose whether you want Gemini to transcribe the call, as well as whether to have the AI record the meeting itself, then choose Start taking notes. You can manually refresh the "Summary so far" by clicking the rotating arrow. All participants will have the option to click Stop taking notes at any time, in case the conversation turns private or confidential, unless host controls are set for the call.

Meeting Overload? Gemini AI Can Now Take Notes for You in Google Meet

The feature uses Gemini to take notes during a meeting and attaches the document to the calendar invite when it's done. If your schedule is packed full of meetings, it can be hard to keep track of what was discussed, which is where Google's new AI-powered "take notes for me" feature comes in. As its name suggests, the tool will listen to Google Meet video chats and take notes for you. First previewed last summer, "take notes for me" is now rolling out in Google Workspace. This "AI-powered feature in Google Meet...automatically takes notes, allowing you to focus on discussion, collaboration, and presentation during your meetings," Google says. Once the meeting is over, the notes are attached to the meeting's calendar invite so any participant can access them. Google is launching the feature for Workspace users with the Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, or AI Meetings & Messaging add-ons. It started rolling out yesterday with a full rollout planned by Sept. 10. For now, the ability to take notes is restricted to computers and laptops, with support for more platforms coming later. It also only works with spoken English. The feature will be enabled by default though admins can configure it as needed. To use the tool, go to the calendar invite for the meeting in question, tick the Take notes with Gemini option, and hit the Start taking notes option once the meeting starts. Participants will be told that Gemini is taking notes and a pencil icon will appear in the meeting. Clicking on the pencil icon will show you a summary of the notes Gemini has taken to that point in the meeting so the organizer can make sure the AI is catching everything.

Google Meet will transcribe your meeting notes now and catch you up if you're late

Starting today, select Google Workspace users will get their own personal note-taker. It can be difficult to pay attention in a meeting while also taking notes, but this new AI-powered Google Meet feature makes it easier to do both. In a blog post on Tuesday, Google announced that it has begun rolling out its new "Take notes for me" feature in Google Meet for select Workspace customers. This new AI feature can automatically transcribe meeting notes so you can "focus on discussion, collaboration, and presentation during your meetings." Also: Gmail's new 'quick reply' feature on Android makes emailing as easy as texting Google Meet's "Take notes for me" attaches the notes document to the calendar event, where everyone in the organization involved can access it internally after the meeting. It also sends an email with a link to the recap after the meeting to the meeting organizer and whoever has the feature turned on. Zoom added a similar feature to its video conferencing platform last year. Google first announced this feature at its 2023 Cloud Next conference, and it quickly became one of the most anticipated features in Google's AI rebrand. Unfortunately, the feature is only available to select Google Workspace customers with these add-ons: Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, or AI Meetings & Messaging. Also, for the feature to work, meetings must be conducted in spoken English, excluding most users in the non-Western world. Also: Why Claude's Artifacts is the coolest feature I've seen in generative AI so far For those who can use it, the feature may transform the meeting experience by allowing employees to stay engaged and alert in meetings without missing or repeating major discussion points. They can also catch up with the "summary so far" option if they're running late for a meeting. To get started, admins must ensure that "Take notes for me" is enabled by default as part of the Gemini AI add-on. To do so, go to the admin console and open Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings. For end users, once your admin enables the feature on their end, you can begin using it. The feature may take up to 15 days to fully roll out, with expected roll-out completion on September 10, 2024.