Google Meet Now Uses AI To Detect When You Raise Your Hand In Meetings

Google has added a hand gesture detection feature on Google Meet. To recap, the search giant confirmed that it is gearing up to roll out a new Google Meet feature back in March.

Notably, you can activate the recently announced hand raise feature by raising your actual hand. The feature can come in handy for drawing attention to yourself without even touching your computer mouse.

You need to make sure your hand is raised within view of the camera and away from your body and face. This will help you avoid activating the feature accidentally. Also, the feature is disabled for active speakers.

A loading icon pops up on the screen as soon as Google Meet detects this gesture and the hand raise feature will trigger after a few seconds. Alternatively, you can click the hand-raise button at the bottom of the screen.

After your video feed is added to the grid, call moderators are notified that you have something to say. This feature has a slew of uses, but it will be quite limited for those who generally sit at their computer and have access to the normal hand-raise button.

Google Meet experience is set to get better

It will be more useful when you're not near your computer or are in a teleconferencing room along with several other people and need to raise attention to yourself.

Google is currently rolling out the hand raise gesture feature to Google Meet Workspaces. However, it is worth noting that the feature is switched off by default. You can switch it on by heading straight to Settings.

In addition to using AI to upgrade Google Meet, the American tech giant has been integrating the technology to improve some of its most popular products and services. At the COP28 summit, Google promised it would use tech to tackle climate issues.

Likewise, the company has been leaving no stone unturned in a bid to improve its AI chatbot Bard. In line with this, Google recently updated Bard's YouTube extension. During the Pixel 8 series launch, Google announced that its AI chatbot will be integrated into Google Assistant.

The ability to switch between Google Assistant with Bard and Classic Assistant

On the downside, Assistant with Bard is expected to lack some of the capabilities of the original Assistant in the beginning. Now, Google is reportedly trying to figure out how it can let users switch back to "Classic Assistant" once they start using Assistant with Bard.

Users will be able to access all capabilities of Assistant with Bard via a quick shortcut on phones. According to Google, the new AI-powered assistant is a combination of Assistant's personalised help and Bard's generative reasoning capabilities.

As a result, you can interact with it not only with your voice and text but also with images. The company is set to roll out the new experience in the coming months. Moreover, users will be able to opt into early testing.

Hawk-eyed Android expert AssembleDebug recently discovered evidence of Google working on this integration. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), AssembleDebug divulged some key details about the upcoming Assitant update.

Strings in the Google app suggest users will have the option to switch between the Assistant with Bard experience and the "Classic Assistant" within the Google app settings. AssembleDebug explained why providing this option might be necessary in the first place.

Apparently, some of the features of the current Assistant will not work in Assistant with Bard initially. As a result, you would have to repeatedly switch between the two Assistants if you want to access all features.

As far as Assistant with Bard is concerned, Google claims it will put its generative AI at your fingertips through your phone. Unlike its biggest rival ChatGPT, Bard doesn't have an Android app and can only be accessed via a website. So, using it on mobile isn't convenient.

After being integrated with Assistant, Bard will be able to use contextual information from your screen. Moreover, it can integrate with a slew of Google services including Gmail and Google Drive.

Regrettably, Google is still mum on when exactly the integration will go live. However, with AssembleDebug finding key references to Bard with Assistant in the Google app's code, it is safe to assume that the launch of the new Assistant is right around the corner.