Google released AI Edge Foresight, a Mac application for meeting notes that can work entirely offline, on 8 October, TechCrunch reported. The app captures notes from conversations across applications and in person, then lets users read a transcript or ask an assistant questions about what was discussed.
Key points
- Foresight runs on a Mac and can capture meeting notes without an internet connection.
- It uses the on-device, 740-million-parameter EmbeddingGemma 2 model and is optimised for Apple Silicon.
- Users can take manual notes beside AI-generated notes and question a Gemma 4-powered assistant about meetings and uploaded documents.
EmbeddingGemma 2 runs on the Mac
Foresight uses EmbeddingGemma 2, a model with 740 million parameters, on the computer to capture meeting notes. Those parameters are numerical settings within the model. For this app, the consequential distinction is where the work happens: a local model can process material on the Mac without sending it to a remote system to get an answer. Google’s FAQ describes Foresight as optimised for Apple Silicon and able to work completely offline, according to TechCrunch.
Meeting notes from a conversation in the same room could therefore remain available during a journey without an internet connection. A question about those notes could be put to the app there, too. That follows from its offline operation and its ability to answer questions about meeting material, rather than from any need to reconnect before opening a transcript.
AI Affairs previously reported Google DeepMind’s launch of EmbeddingGemma 2 as a 740M-parameter multimodal model. Foresight places that model in a meeting-note application, where the work extends beyond capturing a conversation to finding material that can be used while the conversation is under way.
The release follows an AI-powered dictation tool Google introduced in April using local models. That earlier app remained experimental and did not reach mainstream use, TechCrunch reported. Foresight gives the same team’s local-model approach a different task: organising what was said in a meeting alongside notes entered by the person using it.
Foresight places manual and AI notes side by side
The interface divides the working area between shorthand notes entered manually and notes generated by AI. Manual entries can be made while the meeting is being transcribed, and the transcript can be viewed separately. That arrangement resembles Granola’s, putting a person’s own account of the discussion beside an automatically produced one rather than requiring a choice between them.
That distinction matters for a conversation that moves between decisions, background and points worth following up. A transcript preserves the spoken record for review, while the two kinds of notes give different ways to work through it: one written during the meeting and the other produced by the app. Foresight makes all three available within its note-taking workflow.
Foresight can capture meetings held across applications as well as in-person conversations. Its offline capability therefore applies to more than opening saved notes without a connection: the app can also capture notes when a conversation is taking place away from an internet connection. The Mac application brings that capture and the subsequent review into the same interface.
Gemma 4 draws on uploaded documents
The Gemma 4-powered assistant can answer questions using meeting notes and documents added to Foresight. Users can upload PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Office documents, plain text, Markdown files and web bookmarks to build a knowledge base. If a point connected to that material comes up during a meeting, the app can use the notes and documents to answer a question in real time.
This gives the assistant two kinds of material to work with: what has been said in a meeting and what was already contained in the uploaded files. A question can be put against those materials without leaving the note-taking app. Because Foresight can operate completely offline, that use does not depend on having an internet connection at the time.
The document formats also widen the task beyond producing a record of one conversation. Meeting notes can sit alongside existing written material, allowing a question about a point raised in discussion to draw on both. For anyone building a note-taking product, Google’s app combines capture, manual annotation, transcription and document-based questions in one local application.
Granola faces another local note-taking app
Granola is the direct comparison for Foresight’s split-screen design, but it is not the only other entrant mentioned in the market. Dictation company Wispr and scheduling company Calendly have each released note-taking tools in recent months, as companies with different starting points add meeting records to their products.
Google’s contribution puts offline operation alongside the familiar arrangement of a transcript, manual notes and AI-generated notes. The app is built for Apple Silicon Macs, and its assistant can work with uploaded documents as well as the meeting itself. Productivity startup Superhuman, formerly Grammarly, acquired YC-backed note-taker Fathom in September.
