Google’s New AI Notetaker Keeps Things Local and Private

Google has a new note-taking app that can transcribe without sending your conversations to a data center. 

Google AI Edge Foresight launched this week — and it’s only on Mac for now. 

Foresight works with PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Office formats, plain text, Markdown and web bookmarks. It also works with Google Meet, Zoom and offline conversations to transcribe notes, organize them and help answer questions based on the notes. 

More from CNET

Foresight listens in the background to transcribe conversations for you. You can write quick bullet points, and Foresight will help you remember and turn them into polished notes based on your meeting’s transcript. And you can also take notes alongside the AI’s transcription on one screen. 

As for your meeting follow-ups, Foresight seems to have that figured out, too. It can reference your files to help you answer questions, or you can use the tool’s Live Assistance feature to automatically answer questions. It also lets you use custom labels, filter and search without leaning on the cloud. And Google says the tool’s background technology has low battery drainage.

Here’s the catch: Foresight only works on MacOS. We don’t know if it will sync with Gmail or when it will be available for Windows. Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.  

Your notes stay private

There are plenty of AI-powered note-taking apps and features, including Scribe, Granola and Notion AI. Most of these apps use the cloud to access and store data. That’s a big risk to your privacy. There are local-first options that minimize that risk, like Meetily and Whisper AI, which can be a big win for protecting your data. Google says it works locally on a Mac and can work offline and still have access to query and assistance features. 

Foresight will process transcription and audio on your computer. And your personal information, files, recordings or transcripts won’t be moved to the cloud.