Google’s Gemini Can Now Make Calls for You on Pixel Phones — SkimNews
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- Google launched 'Call for Me,' an experimental beta feature exclusive to Pixel 11 smartphones in the US and English-only, letting Gemini AI make phone calls to businesses on the user's behalf.
- The feature requires a Gemini subscription and enrollment in the Phone by Google app's public beta; users can watch a live transcript on the Pixel and take over the call at any point.
- Gemini can navigate automated phone menus, wait on hold, and ask follow-up questions for context, but won't dial emergency services; users can supply a phone number if one can't be found online.
- The rollout echoes Google's Duplex assistant from nearly a decade ago, which booked restaurant tables via phone before being shuttered years ago.
- Pixel and Android already ship a suite of related calling tools—Hold for Me, Direct My Call, Call Screening, and real-time Scam Detection—giving Google years of prior data on how AI calls perform in the wild.
- A Google spokesperson told WIRED the company is 'looking forward to users testing a variety of cases' across accents and noisy environments, and confirmed Gemini will 'politely' hang up if a business can't help.
- The article flags that businesses are already deploying AI chatbots to answer calls—pointing to Pizza My Heart's 'Jimmy the Surfer' text-ordering bot—suggesting bot-to-bot business calls are a near-term reality.
Why it matters: Pixel 11 owners with a Gemini subscription can now offload routine business calls to AI, but the beta's usefulness depends on whether Gemini handles accents and noisy lines without trapping clerks in repetition loops. With businesses like Pizza My Heart already deploying AI to answer customers, the article frames a near-term reality where AI agents both dial and pick up the phone.
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