Google's AI scribe is now in your meetings.
The tech giant has begun rolling out its Gemini-powered "Take notes for me" feature inside Google Meet for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Previously tucked away behind Workspace business plans since its 2024 debut, the tool is now accessible to individual paying users on both web and mobile.
AI meeting tools have become the new battleground in productivity software, with Microsoft Teams already pushing Copilot-powered recaps and Zoom AI Companion generating summaries across desktop and mobile. Google is closing that gap, at least for subscribers willing to pay.
How it works
Once activated, Gemini runs in the background during a call, transcribing the conversation and producing a structured summary complete with key decisions and action items. That document is automatically saved to the host's Google Drive, attached to the corresponding Calendar event, and followed up with an email recap after the call ends.
Users can switch it on mid-call by tapping the pencil icon in the Meet window, or pre-enable it for all future hosted meetings through the Meeting Records section in settings. All participants on the call are notified the moment note-taking begins.
The feature currently supports eight languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish, one at a time. Multilingual meetings are not yet supported.
Not everyone qualifies
The feature is available only to Google AI Pro subscribers ($19.99 per month), Ultra subscribers, or eligible Workspace business customers, and only for meetings they host themselves. Joining someone else's call doesn't trigger your own notes or populate your Drive.
A significant portion of participants in everyday meetings are attendees, not organizers, particularly when collaborating across teams or with external clients. For that group, the feature remains effectively out of reach regardless of their subscription tier.
The risks worth knowing
A few caveats deserve attention. First, the output is not a verbatim transcript. Google's Workspace blog acknowledges the possibility of errors and advises users to double-check summaries before acting on them.
Second, and more significantly, the privacy framework for individual Pro and Ultra subscribers isn't as clearly documented as it is for enterprise Workspace customers. Enterprise deployments come with tenant-level data controls, advertising restrictions, audit logging, and formal compliance terms. Whether those same protections apply to personal subscribers remains unclear.
For Google Meet regulars who run their own calls, this is a genuinely useful addition, one that could meaningfully reduce the cognitive load of back-to-back meetings. But the host-only restriction, limited language support, and murky consumer privacy terms mean the feature's real-world value will vary widely depending on how you work.
Also read: Google says AI tools can help with job searches by supporting career exploration, source-based research, and interview practice.