Google Launches Gemini Call for Me on Pixel 11 Phones

Google's Gemini assistant can now place phone calls to businesses on behalf of Pixel 11 owners, the company announced Thursday, according to Wired. The feature, called Call for Me, is an experimental beta limited to the Pixel 11 series in the US and in English.

What Is Call for Me?

Users tell Gemini to make a call — to check store inventory or book a haircut, for example — and the assistant introduces itself to the person who answers, Wired reports. Gemini can hold a back-and-forth conversation, navigate automated phone menus, and wait on hold. A live transcript appears on the phone during the call, and the user can take over at any point.

How Does Gemini Handle Difficult Calls?

Gemini works best with businesses, according to Google, and it will not call emergency services. If a business lacks an online phone number, Gemini will search for one, but a Google spokesperson told Wired the user can also supply a number directly, citing the example of a tattoo artist without much of a web presence.

The assistant speaks in the same voice used for Gemini Live conversations, Wired reports, even if the user's preferred Gemini voice normally has an accent.

Who Can Use It and What Does It Require?

Access is limited to Pixel 11 owners with a Gemini subscription who enroll in the public beta of the Phone by Google app, per Wired. Google has posted enrollment instructions for users who want to join the test.

The feature extends a set of calling tools already on Pixel and Android devices, Wired notes, including Hold for Me, which listens for hold music to end and alerts the user when a live person picks up, and Direct My Call, which displays automated phone-menu options as text so users can skip listening to a full recording. Android's real-time Scam Detection tool also flags calls that appear to be fraudulent.

What Happened to Google's Earlier AI Calling Tool?

Call for Me is Google's second attempt at AI-driven phone calls, Wired reports. The company's Duplex feature, which let the now-discontinued Google Assistant call restaurants to book tables, was shut down a few years ago. Call for Me runs on large language models rather than the older Duplex system.

What Could Go Wrong on These Calls?

Wired raises open questions about reliability: how Gemini handles callers with unfamiliar accents, whether it can end a call gracefully when a request can't be met, and whether businesses will hang up assuming the call is spam.

"That is exactly what we want to continue testing," a Google spokesperson told Wired.

Voice-driven AI tools have become more common since Duplex debuted, with call-screening features now standard on Pixel, Samsung, and iPhone devices, according to Wired. Readers curious about the underlying voice-synthesis technology that powers conversational AI assistants can find developer tools through services like ElevenLabs.

Google has not said when Call for Me might expand beyond the Pixel 11 beta or leave experimental status, per the Wired report.

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