Last updated: October 11, 2026
The quick answer
Google AI Edge Foresight is a free, experimental Mac app that listens to your meetings, transcribes them and expands your quick shorthand into polished notes, all with AI that runs on your own computer instead of the cloud. It is worth trying if you want an AI note-taker but don’t want your meeting audio leaving your Mac, as long as you are comfortable with an early, experimental tool.
What happened
Google released Foresight this week through its Google AI Edge developer site. The app was first spotted by 9to5Google on October 6 and covered by TechCrunch on October 8, which framed it as Google’s answer to popular AI meeting note-takers such as Granola. It comes from the same Google team that earlier this year released an experimental offline dictation app for the Mac.
Foresight is a Mac app optimized for Apple Silicon. It is free, and Google notes there are no cloud subscription fees, because the heavy lifting happens locally. GIGAZINE, which reviewed Google’s materials, describes it as an experimental app, so expect rough edges and changes.
What it does
- Captures any meeting: it listens in the background using your Mac’s microphone and system audio, so it works with video calls in any app and with in-person meetings.
- Turns scribbles into notes: you type short reminders during the meeting, and the app uses the transcript to expand them into full, organized notes. A split view shows your own notes on one side and the AI version on the other.
- Keeps the transcript: you can open the full transcript afterward to check exactly what was said.
- Answers questions: a built-in chat assistant, powered by Google’s open Gemma 4 model, can summarize meetings or find details across your transcripts and documents.
- Builds a personal knowledge base: you can add PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Office files, plain text, Markdown and web bookmarks, and Google says you can point it at a Google Drive account. The app can then pull from that material during meetings.
- Live help: according to Google, the app can detect questions asked out loud in a meeting and surface answers in real time.
Under the hood, search across your notes and files uses EmbeddingGemma 2, a new open model with about 740 million parameters that Google released under the Apache 2.0 license. That small size is what makes it practical to run on a laptop.
What it means for you
Most AI meeting assistants upload your audio to a server for transcription and summarizing. Foresight’s selling point is that audio, transcripts, notes and the documents you import stay on your device, and the app can work with no internet connection at all. That matters if you discuss confidential projects, client details or anything you would rather not send to a third party, and it means you can review notes on a plane.
The trade-off is that on-device models are smaller than the cloud models behind many paid note-takers, and Google has not published accuracy figures or a list of supported languages. Treat it as a promising preview rather than a finished replacement for a tool your team already relies on.
| Question | What we know |
|---|---|
| Price | Free, no cloud subscription |
| Platform | Mac, optimized for Apple Silicon |
| Where to get it | Google AI Edge developer site |
| Works offline | Yes, processing happens on the device |
| Status | Experimental |
| Languages, accuracy, Windows version | Not announced |
How to try it safely
- Download only from Google: get it from the official page at developers.google.com/edge/foresight. Fake AI app installers are being pushed through search ads right now, as we explained in our guide to fake Claude download ads, so don’t click a sponsored result.
- Check your Mac: it is built for Apple Silicon Macs. Make sure you have room for the downloaded models before installing.
- Review permissions: macOS will ask before the app can use your microphone and record system audio. Only grant what it needs, and revisit them later in System Settings under Privacy & Security. Our piece on Full Disk Access and AI agents explains why broad file access deserves extra care.
- Tell people you are recording: local processing doesn’t remove the need for consent. Let meeting participants know, and follow your employer’s policies and the recording rules where you live.
- Test before you rely on it: run it alongside your usual notes for a few meetings and compare the results before trusting it with anything important.
Who it’s for and who it isn’t
- Good fit: Mac users with Apple Silicon who sit through many meetings, freelancers and consultants handling sensitive client calls, and anyone curious about private, offline AI.
- Not for now: Windows, iPhone and Android users, since Google has only announced a Mac app, and teams that need shared notes, admin controls or guaranteed support.
- Check first: employees on managed work Macs, who may need IT approval to install experimental software.
Prefer AI inside the tools you already use? See how Claude works in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. And if you use Google’s Gemini app, read what changed with Gemini’s Auto model and effort levels.
FAQ
Is Google AI Edge Foresight really free?
Yes. Google offers it at no cost, and because the AI runs on your Mac there is no cloud subscription. As an experimental app, its features and availability could change.
Does my meeting audio get sent to Google?
Google says audio, transcripts and notes are processed on the device and the app can run fully offline. If you connect a Google Drive account as a source, those files naturally come from your Drive.
Is it the same as Gemini’s meeting notes?
No. Foresight is a standalone Mac app built on Google’s open Gemma models running locally. It is separate from the cloud-based Gemini app and from note-taking features inside Google Meet.
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