In April, Google introduced an AI-driven dictation tool capable of functioning with local models. Building on this initial release, the same development team has now launched a new competitor to the popular AI note-taking applications Granola and others, named Google AI Edge Foresight.
Designed as a Mac application, this tool functions entirely offline by leveraging the on-device EmbeddingGemma 2 model, which features 740 million parameters. This capability allows it to capture meeting notes from various applications, including those used for in-person meetings.
The interface mirrors the functionality of Granola by offering a split-screen view, allowing users to write shorthand notes on one side while AI-generated summaries appear on the other.
Similar to Granola, the application permits manual note-taking during transcription. Additionally, users can view full meeting transcripts or engage in a chat with a Gemma 4-powered assistant to retrieve specific answers.
Beyond meeting notes, the app allows users to upload various files such as PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Office formats, plain text, Markdown files, and web bookmarks to construct a comprehensive knowledge base. By integrating these documents with meeting notes, the software can provide real-time answers to questions based on the information stored in the knowledge base.
According to the company's FAQ, Google AI Edge Foresight is specifically optimized for Apple Silicon and operates without an internet connection. This ensures that users can access and manage their meeting notes while traveling or in areas lacking Wi-Fi or cellular data.
Although Google's previous dictation tool was an experimental project that did not achieve mainstream adoption, this new meeting note-taker may serve primarily to demonstrate the capabilities of the Gemma series of offline models.
Nevertheless, Google has the potential to release a consumer-focused version of this note-taker that functions across video calling platforms via its Gemini apps, utilizing cloud-based models instead of on-device ones.
The market for meeting note-takers is highly competitive and crowded, yet companies continue to innovate. Recently, dictation company Wispr and scheduling platform Calendly launched their own note-taking solutions. Concurrently, the productivity startup Superhuman (formerly Grammarly) acquired the YC-backed notetaker Fathom.
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