Google tests letting Gemini call businesses for you — SkimNews
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Google is testing 'Call for Me,' a Gemini feature that places calls to businesses on users' behalf, navigates automated phone menus, waits on hold, and handles the conversation while displaying a live transcript.
- The initial rollout targets Pixel 11 owners with a paid Gemini subscription in the U.S. who opt into the beta version of Google's Phone app for Android — a deliberately narrow audience.
- Gemini can share user-approved personal information during calls, enabling tasks like checking product availability, making restaurant reservations, rescheduling appointments, and placing items on hold.
- Users can follow the call in real time and take over at any point, with calls dialed directly from their own phone number rather than a masked line.
- Google is starting at small scale, explaining that 'real-world conversations are nuanced' and it needs time to refine the feature before broader release.
- The launch builds on years of prior Google AI-calling experiments, including the Google Assistant salon call demo at I/O, plus 'Ask for Me,' 'Hold for Me,' 'Talk to a Live Rep,' and 'Direct My Call.'
- The feature enters a competitive field that the article frames alongside Meta's Muse and Instinct, which are also described as AI agents capable of making calls on users' behalf.
Why it matters: Google's 'Call for Me' lands in a crowded AI-agent space that already includes Meta's Muse and Instinct, but the Pixel 11 / paid Gemini / beta Phone app gating keeps real-world exposure minimal — a controlled experiment designed to expose failure modes before any wide launch.
Ask SkimNews
