Google Meet for Android will soon get AI-generated backgrounds

Key Takeaways

• Google Meet launched AI-generated background images on the web last year, and it's now in development for the Android app.
• This feature was spotted as part of an APK teardown of the latest Gmail app and is still in its early stages.
• When available on Android, this capability on Meet should be available to users with the Gemini for Google Workspace add-on or a Google One AI Premium subscription.

Google has slowly but steadily incorporated AI elements into almost every product it offers, including Workspace apps. Google Meet is no exception, with the video conferencing app launching AI-generated background images last year as a Workspace Labs project. Although Google launched this feature over a year ago, it's still only available on the web version of Meet, limiting its reach somewhat. Fortunately, that's likely to change soon, with new evidence showing Google is working on bringing AI-generated backgrounds to the Android version of its video calling app.

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Looking through version 2024.10.06.682972205 of the Gmail app, the folks at Android Authority have spotted a new option to "Generate a background" inside Meet's Effects menu. Assuming it works similarly to the web version, users should be able to generate an AI background image with a custom prompt directly from the self-view screen, i.e., the page that appears just before joining a Google Meet call.

It could be a while before it's ready

While Android Authority could make the new option appear, tapping it reportedly returns an empty page, suggesting it's still early days for AI-generated backgrounds on Meet for Android. It's unclear if Google will also roll out this Gemini-powered feature to the iOS/iPadOS version of Meet, though we'd be surprised if it didn't.

When available, eligible users should be able to tap the Generate a background button in the Effects menu and enter a custom prompt to get the desired background image. People will also have the option to choose a style, with some of the options including Photography, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, etc, as Google details in this support page entry.

Its capabilities should remain largely unchanged when it hits Android, though it's hard to say anything definitively since it's not fully functional right now. This background image generation feature should be available to people with a Gemini for Google Workspace add-on or the Google One AI Premium subscription.

This isn't the only AI-related inclusion in the video conferencing app, with Meet also getting the "Take notes for me" feature not too long ago, while we've also learned that it's coming to Android in the near future. Some of Meet's AI additions were detailed in advance by Google back in April.