Google is betting that nobody wants to rewatch their hour-long meeting recordings. Starting Wednesday, the company's Gemini AI can now summarize videos stored in Google Drive, extract action items, and answer specific questions about video content—making it the latest tech giant to tackle the growing mountain of recorded meetings piling up in corporate cloud storage.
Key Points:
- Gemini can summarize and answer questions about videos in Google Drive.
- The feature requires captions to be enabled and is currently available in English.
- Accessible via Google Drive’s overlay previewer or a new browser tab.
- Available to Google Workspace and Google One AI Premium users.
The feature arrives as businesses struggle with what industry analysts call "the meeting recording paradox." While companies increasingly record meetings for documentation and inclusion purposes, few employees actually go back to watch them.
"Videos contain a wealth of information, however going back to watch them can be time consuming," Google noted in its announcement. The new capability lets users click Gemini's star icon in any Drive video player to get instant summaries, pull out specific action items, or ask targeted questions like "What did Sarah say about the Q3 budget?"
For Google, the move serves dual purposes. First, it makes Drive stickier for enterprise customers who might otherwise turn to specialized tools. Second, it showcases Gemini's capabilities against OpenAI and others in the AI arms race.
The feature requires videos to have captions enabled—a limitation that reflects the current state of AI video analysis. Google Gemini uses the text that YouTube automatically generates, such as captions and transcripts, to create summaries. This approach sidesteps the computational intensity of analyzing raw video while still delivering value.
Early adopters will likely include sales teams analyzing customer calls, HR departments reviewing training sessions, and project managers trying to catch up on meetings they missed. Sales managers and team leaders can turn meeting recordings into teachable moments for their team. A recording can help them review how their team interacts with customers and identify areas for improvement.
But the real test will be accuracy. While Google touts Gemini's ability to understand context and nuance, video summarization remains challenging. Background noise, multiple speakers, and technical jargon can trip up even sophisticated AI systems.
The rollout follows Google's typical pattern: gradual release to Rapid Release domains over 15 days, with Scheduled Release domains getting it June 16. It is available to users with Google Workspace Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-ons, and Google One AI Premium subscriptions.
In addition to video summarization, Google has introduced a new feature in Google Drive that displays engagement data for videos. Users can now see how many times a video has been opened within the Analytics section of the Details panel, providing insights into the video’s reach and engagement.
With these updates, Google continues to enhance the functionality of its Workspace tools, leveraging AI to make information more accessible and workflows more efficient.