Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar gives Google’s AI a face

Google has updated its Gemini AI model with a new feature called Live Avatar, which allows users to have conversations with the model while watching an animated AI persona respond in real time. The Live Avatar can lip-sync and show different facial expressions during conversations, and it supports 97 languages without degrading video fidelity. According to The Verge, this feature is currently only available to Gemini Enterprise customers.

In a separate development, Google is testing a new feature called "Call for Me", which lets Gemini call businesses on behalf of users. This feature, reported by TechCrunch and XDA Developers, will initially be available to Pixel 11 users with a Gemini subscription in the US. It will allow Gemini to handle the entire call, including menu navigation and speaking on the user's behalf.

The "Call for Me" feature will use the user's personal phone number to make calls and will allow users to follow the call as it happens and take over at any time. According to TechCrunch, Gemini will be able to share personal information that the user approves as part of the calls it makes, and will be able to handle complex tasks such as making restaurant reservations or placing items on hold.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Verge, Techmeme, XDA Developers, TechCrunch — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.