Google releases Gemini Live Avatar for enterprise voice and video
Gemini Enterprise gains animated conversational characters that can respond with speech and video. Custom characters remain restricted to allowlisted organisations.
The briefing
Google adds animated faces to enterprise conversations, tests Gemini phone calls for a narrow group of Pixel owners, and expands its photo-built virtual wardrobe. The practical distinctions are access and control: custom avatars need allowlisting, automated calls remain an experiment, and the wardrobe rollout covers three countries.
Google releases Gemini Live Avatar for enterprise voice and video
Google has released Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar in Gemini Enterprise, combining spoken dialogue, generated video and background tool calls. Creating a custom avatar requires enterprise allowlisting.
Businesses can now put a moving, speaking character in front of a Gemini conversation, rather than offering voice alone. Google names customer service and interactive walkthroughs as uses for Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar.
In the announcement, Shuo-yiin Chang and CJ Zheng describe a system that processes audio and visual inputs together and generates near-real-time spoken and video responses. Google claims synchronised lip movements, expressive faces and fluid exchanges between speakers.
A conversation that continues while tools run
The feature can call tools and fetch information in the background while continuing to talk. Google demonstrates this with a hotel check-in, illustrating how an agent might keep a guest informed while handling a task.
Google also claims the avatar can switch among 97 languages without losing video fidelity or lip synchronisation. Those are company performance claims, not independent test results.
Organisations can choose preset characters. Allowlisted enterprise developers can instead generate an animated avatar from a reference image, preserving its likeness or styling. Google says generated audio and video carry its imperceptible SynthID watermark to help identify them as AI-generated.
Teams building spoken customer-service agents can add a visual character and keep dialogue going during data lookups. The access distinction is practical: preset avatars are offered in Gemini Enterprise, while custom identities require allowlisting.
Market signal
Google tests Gemini business calls for paying US Pixel owners
Google is testing an assistant that calls businesses from a user’s phone, shares approved personal information and handles tasks such as reservations. Initial access is limited to eligible US Pixel 11 owners.
The change is not simply having Gemini wait on hold. Call for Me can share personal information that a user approves, allowing it to attempt more involved jobs, such as moving an appointment or reserving a restaurant table.
Sarah Perez reports for TechCrunch that the experiment will initially roll out in the US to Pixel 11 owners paying for a Gemini subscription. They will also need the beta version of Google’s Phone app for Android.
Your number, with a route back into the call
Calls are dialled directly from the handset using the owner’s phone number. Google says Gemini can introduce itself, navigate automated menus, wait on hold and conduct the conversation. Users can read a live transcript and take over at any point.
Other proposed tasks include checking whether a shop has an item in stock and asking staff to put it aside. These are Google’s claims about the experiment’s capabilities, rather than demonstrated success rates.
Earlier Google calling tools focused on enquiries, phone menus or waiting for a representative. Google says it is starting this broader experiment at a small scale to improve its handling of nuanced real-world conversations.
For eligible users, the experiment could delegate calls that require both waiting and exchanging personal details. Approval over shared information, a live transcript and the ability to intervene provide specific controls over that delegation.
What to watch
Google Photos opens virtual wardrobes across iOS and Android
Google Photos has expanded its virtual closet to all Android and iOS users in three markets. Alongside it come new editing tools, with separate subscription and platform restrictions for some additions.
Google Photos users in the US, Brazil and India can organise photographed clothing into a virtual wardrobe, filter it into categories and combine items into possible outfits. The catalogue comes from what appears in their pictures, rather than an inventory of everything they own.
Sarah Perez reports for TechCrunch that access now covers all Android and iOS users in those markets. Android access began in June; the expanded availability brings iPhone users into the rollout too.
Google says information about what users wear is not shared with third parties such as retailers.
Photo editing has different access rules
The wardrobe expansion accompanies a Gemini Spark option that selects, brightens and shares photographs from a single prompt. That feature requires a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription in the US, a separate restriction from the virtual closet’s three-country availability.
The updated Markup tool adds a redacting pen for blurring sensitive details, including number plates, along with thickness controls for drawing and a choice of text fonts.
Additional Remix templates offer AI transformations. Android users also gain Moods filters, including looks based on 35mm film and 2000s digital cameras.
Users in the supported countries can plan combinations from clothes already visible in their photo libraries. The accompanying editing changes also let them blur sensitive details before sharing, without confusing wardrobe access with paid Gemini Spark access.
What to watch next
- Teams building spoken customer-service agents can add a visual character and keep dialogue going during data lookups. The access distinction is practical: preset avatars are offered in Gemini Enterprise, while custom identities require allowlisting.
- For eligible users, the experiment could delegate calls that require both waiting and exchanging personal details. Approval over shared information, a live transcript and the ability to intervene provide specific controls over that delegation.
- Users in the supported countries can plan combinations from clothes already visible in their photo libraries. The accompanying editing changes also let them blur sensitive details before sharing, without confusing wardrobe access with paid Gemini Spark access.
The takeaway
Teams building spoken customer-service agents can add a visual character and keep dialogue going during data lookups. The access distinction is practical: preset avatars are offered in Gemini Enterprise, while custom identities require allowlisting.
The editor’s view
For eligible users, the experiment could delegate calls that require both waiting and exchanging personal details. Approval over shared information, a live transcript and the ability to intervene provide specific controls over that delegation.