Google's offline meeting notes app for Mac still raises recording questions
Foresight keeps transcripts and files on the Mac, but it listens to meeting audio, and Google calls it experimental.
AI · Macfolio · 7 October 2026
Google released Google AI Edge Foresight for Mac on October 6 and describes it as an experimental meeting companion. It listens through the Mac's system audio and microphone, so Google says it works with any meeting platform, even offline. It enriches your shorthand notes with details from the live conversation, answers questions it detects, and searches transcripts, notes, images, and documents in natural language.
Google says processing is fully local and that sensitive data never leaves the device. The app runs on Gemma 4 and EmbeddingGemma 2, an open model with 740 million parameters released under the Apache 2.0 license the same day.
Local processing does not mean the app is approved for your workplace, or that recording is acceptable to everyone on the call.
Settle consent before you let it listen
Our take: on-device transcription removes the cloud upload question, not the consent question. If your organization has rules on recording meetings, they apply whether the audio stays on the Mac or not.
Google labels Foresight experimental, and its announcement does not include accuracy figures for the notes feature. Treat its notes as drafts to check against the transcript, especially for decisions, names, and numbers.