Google’s Offline AI Note-Taker Runs Only on a Mac

Google AI Edge Foresight is an experimental meeting note-taker that runs on a Mac, not a phone, with no cloud subscription, and Google says it works with no internet connection. Google’s own FAQ says the transcript, the AI and your files stay on the computer: meeting audio and notes “never leave your computer”.

Google released it on 6 October 2026, mainly as a showcase for a new on-device model, EmbeddingGemma 2. The Verge and CNET reported on it two days later.

What Google says, question by question

Question	Google’s answer	Where it says so
Does it work offline?	Yes: the model and the file search “run on your hardware without internet”	Foresight FAQ
What does it run on?	A macOS download, “optimized for Apple Silicon”	Foresight page
Phone or Windows version?	None offered	Foresight page
What does it cost?	“No cloud subscription costs”; no price shown	Developers Blog
Where do recordings go?	Audio, notes and files “never leave your computer”	Foresight FAQ
Is it finished?	Called “an experimental app”	Developers Blog

What it does

You take rough notes during a meeting and Foresight fills them out from the transcript; Google’s page calls the result “polished notes”. It listens to the Mac’s system audio and microphone, so it picks up both sides of a Google Meet or Zoom call, or a conversation in the room.

It can also read your own material. Google lists PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Office formats, plain text, Markdown and web bookmarks, from local folders or Google Drive. You can then ask questions about it in a chat, or use Live Assistance, which Google says listens and answers questions automatically. When a topic from your files comes up in the meeting, Google says Foresight shows “context cards with exact citations”.

The engine is EmbeddingGemma 2, a 740-million-parameter model that turns text, images, audio and video into searchable vectors, paired with Gemma 4 to write the answers. Google released EmbeddingGemma 2 as an open model under the Apache 2.0 licence, and Foresight is its demonstration of the two running together on one machine. If you want the same kind of setup with models you choose yourself, Ollama and LM Studio run local models at no cost.

Does it really work offline?

Google says so plainly: “Foresight is completely offline-first. Both the Gemma model and the local vector embeddings engine run on your hardware without internet.” It names flights and “air-gapped secure facilities” as places it works. We have not installed it, so this is Google’s claim, not a test result.

One part of the pitch needs a network by definition. Connecting Google Drive means fetching files from Google’s servers, and Google’s page does not explain what happens to that connection offline. What Google claims is that the processing happens on the Mac, not that nothing touches the internet.

Which devices it runs on

Google offers Foresight as a single macOS download and says it is “optimized for Apple Silicon”. It does not say whether Intel Macs can run it, and gives no minimum macOS version, memory or storage figure. Its only hardware claim is “a light footprint with low battery drain”, without numbers.

There is no phone version and no Windows version. Google’s phone app for the same model, Google AI Edge Gallery on Android and iPhone, adds two demos for searching your photos and videos; it does not take meeting notes. CNET noted on 8 October that Google had not said whether a Windows version is coming.

What it costs

Google’s developer blog lists “no cloud subscription costs” among Foresight’s benefits, and its download page shows no price. The Verge reported on 8 October that it “is free to use”. That sets it apart from Google’s own cloud AI, where the Gemini plans run from nothing to $199.99 a month. The catch is in Google’s own description: it calls Foresight “an experimental app”, not a finished product.

What happens to your notes and recordings

Google’s privacy answer is direct: “All AI inference runs 100% locally on your device… No personal files, recordings, or transcripts are ever transmitted to external cloud servers.” If that holds, Google never receives your meetings, which is a different arrangement from a cloud assistant. ChatGPT, for comparison, trains on consumer chats by default until you switch it off.

Three things Google’s page leaves open:

• Usage data. The privacy answer covers files, recordings and transcripts. It says nothing about whether the app sends usage analytics or crash reports.
• The policy. The page links Google’s general Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, not a privacy notice written for Foresight.
• Everyone else on the call. Foresight records system audio, which means other people’s voices as well as yours. Keeping the recording on your Mac does not change that they are being recorded.

Support goes to an email address, ai-edge-support@google.com, rather than a help centre.

Questions people ask

Does Google AI Edge Foresight work offline?

Google says yes. Its FAQ says both the Gemma model and the search engine over your files run on your hardware without internet, including on planes. We have not run it, so that is Google’s claim rather than our finding.

Is Google Foresight free?

Google’s page shows no price, and its developer blog says there are no cloud subscription costs. The Verge reports it is free to use. Google calls it an experimental app.

Is Google Foresight on Android or iPhone?

No. Google offers it only as a macOS download. Google’s phone app for the same model, Google AI Edge Gallery, adds photo and video search demos, not meeting notes.

Does Foresight work on Windows or Intel Macs?

There is no Windows download. For Macs, Google says Foresight is optimized for Apple Silicon but does not say whether Intel Macs can run it, and gives no minimum macOS version or memory figure.

Does Google see my meeting recordings in Foresight?

Google says no: meeting audio, notes and files never leave your computer, and no recordings or transcripts are sent to cloud servers. Its page does not say whether the app sends usage or crash data.

Which meeting apps does Google Foresight work with?

Google names Google Meet and Zoom, plus in-person conversations. It listens to the Mac’s system audio and microphone, so Google says it works with any meeting platform.