Google's AI can now call businesses for you

Google has started testing a feature that sounds like something from the future: letting its AI assistant Gemini make phone calls for you. Imagine needing to book an appointment or check a store's hours, but instead of calling yourself, you ask your phone's AI to do it.

This is exactly what Google is working on. The company says Gemini — its AI chatbot (a computer program you can chat with) — can now call businesses and handle conversations. For now, the feature is only available to people in the United States who own a Pixel 11 phone (Google's own smartphone) and pay for a Gemini subscription (a monthly fee to access more advanced AI features).

Why does this matter? Phone calls can be annoying, especially if you just need quick information. An AI that can do this for you could save time and effort. However, there's an important catch: the AI needs to sound natural and know when to answer questions. It also needs to be honest — if it doesn't know something, it should say so rather than guess. Google will need to make sure the AI handles these calls properly before letting everyone use it.

This is still an experiment, so don't expect it to be perfect yet. But it shows how AI is moving beyond just answering your questions on a screen — it's starting to interact with the real world on your behalf.