Google has released a Mac app called AI Edge Foresight. It is meant to compete with tools like Granola that help users take meeting notes. The app runs entirely on the computer, so it does not need an internet connection. It uses Google’s on‑device EmbeddingGemma 2 model, a neural network with 740 million parameters, to transcribe speech and generate summaries.
How the app works
The interface splits the screen: you can write shorthand notes on one side while the AI writes a full transcript on the other. You can also view the raw transcript or chat with a Gemma 4‑powered assistant for answers. Users can upload PDFs, Google Docs, Office files, plain‑text, Markdown, and web bookmarks to create a personal knowledge base. The app can pull information from those documents in real time during a meeting.
What makes it different
Google says the app is optimized for Apple Silicon chips and can run completely offline, which is useful for travelers or anyone without reliable internet. The earlier Google dictation tool, released in April, was experimental; this new note‑taker appears to showcase the capabilities of the Gemma series of local models. Google has not announced a cloud‑based consumer version yet.
Why it matters
For anyone who frequently attends meetings, the app lets you capture and summarize discussions without relying on an internet connection, protecting privacy and reducing data usage. It also means you can keep a searchable knowledge base of your own documents that the AI can reference on the fly. However, the app is currently limited to macOS and requires Apple Silicon hardware.
