Google Meet is getting AI-enabled note-taking and real-time call translation features

Google just unveiled a suite of AI-powered features for Google Workspace apps that, if they live up to the billing, could improve how users work and collaborate.

These advanced features are currently targeted solely toward enterprise users. However, as is often the case with Google innovations, we can expect at least some version of them to eventually trickle down to consumer-level Google products.

The “Take notes for me” feature for Google Meet is already in preview and promises to banish frantic note-taking from meetings by automatically transcribing conversations in video calls. Of course, the devil’s in the details — anyone who’s used voice-to-text knows how fickle the accuracy can be, and Google’s tool will need to be exceptional to be truly useful.

Even more ambitious is the “Translate for me” feature, which will be released later in June. Google claims it will seamlessly detect and translate captions during Meet calls, supporting 69 languages. This has the potential to break down language barriers for Meet users and enable global collaboration.

While Google’s demos in the above images certainly look impressive, we’ll have to see how these tools perform in the real world. Google Chat is also getting its share of AI-powered enhancements, with the promise of on-the-fly message translation and on-demand conversation summaries coming later this year.

Pepperdine University, a private research university in California, is already testing these tools, along with previously launched Gemini for Google Workplace features. “The captioning within Google Meet is going to be a huge game changer in extending equity and accessibility,” says Jonathan See, Pepperdine University’s CIO.

The new set of AI-powered features will be available for most Google Workspace plans through an “AI Meetings and Messaging” add-on, priced at $10 per user per month.