AI WORLD HQ
Anyone who's been the one fumbling with screen-sharing controls during a meeting has probably wished for a quiet helper sitting next to them. Gemini in Meet is supposed to be that helper. But what it can actually do today — and what it can't — is worth knowing before you start paying for it.
What Gemini in Meet actually is
"AI assistant" sounds like marketing buzzwords until you see what it does in practice. Gemini in Meet (Gemini being Google's family of AI models, the same technology behind the Gemini chat apps) is a side panel that opens on the right side of your screen during a call. You open it when you need it; otherwise it stays out of your way.
Its real, working features today include:
- Take notes for me: Gemini listens and writes a summary of what was discussed, then saves a recap to your Google Drive.
- Catch me up: If you join a meeting late, Gemini shows a quick recap of what you missed.
- Summarize this meeting so far: A button that asks Gemini to recap the conversation up to the current moment.
- Translate captions: Real-time translation of spoken language into on-screen captions in another language.
These features work today for people who have the Gemini add-on enabled on their Google Workspace account. New features get added over time, but only some of them are widely available to everyone at once.
What it can do during a presentation
If you're showing Google Slides inside Meet, Gemini can still help — just not in the way some headlines suggest. Here's what's real:
- It will take notes of the discussion while your slides are on screen.
- After the meeting, you get a summary that includes who said what and what questions came up.
- If you joined late, Catch me up can tell you which slides were already discussed.
What's not real: Gemini does not watch who's talking during your presentation and then suggest someone to hand the slides to. There is no panel that proactively proposes a co-presenter, and no one-click handoff feature built around that idea. If you need to pass control mid-presentation, you still do it the regular way — open the participant list, find the person, and grant co-presenter access manually.
What you need before trying it
Gemini in Meet is not free. It's a paid add-on for Google Workspace (the paid version of Google's productivity tools — Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Meet for businesses and organizations). You'll need:
- A Google Workspace account. The personal free version of Meet does not include the Gemini panel.
- A Workspace admin (the person who manages your organization's Google setup) to turn on the Gemini add-on for your account.
- The latest version of Meet in your browser, or the Meet mobile app.
If you don't see the Gemini panel in your next meeting, the most likely reason is that the add-on hasn't been turned on for your account yet — talk to your Workspace admin.
Wrap-up
The honest picture of Gemini in Meet is smaller than some headlines suggest, but it's still useful. It won't pick your co-presenter for you. It will write down what was said and give you a recap when you're late — which, for most people, is plenty. Try it in one meeting this week. Read the notes it produces. That's the simplest way to find out whether it's worth keeping on.