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5 minute read
Summary
On this episode of Direct from the Expo, the Collab Collective's Craig Durr speaks with Mark Ewing, Product Management Director at Google Meet Hardware and Voice, live from ISE 2025. They discuss the evolution of AI in Google Meet, the rebrand to Gemini AI, and Google’s expanded hardware partnerships with Logitech and Poly.
Their discussion covers:
- Gemini AI’s Role in Google Meet: How AI-driven collaboration tools are now included in all Workspace subscriptions.
- Real-Time Translated Captions: Breaking language barriers with instant AI-powered translation.
- Adaptive Audio for Hybrid Teams: Eliminating echo and feedback to enable seamless impromptu meetings.
- Expanding Google Meet Hardware: How Logitech and Poly are enhancing room experiences with Android-based solutions.
Listen to the Audio:
Transcript
Craig Durr: Hey everybody, this is Craig Durr, Chief Analyst and Founder of the Collab Collective. And we are still here Direct from the Expo from ISE 2025. As I said before, we're bringing you exciting conversations, interviews from the executives and the influencers that are actually bringing our industry to life. And I'm excited to have a return guest, Mark Ewing, who has come to talk to us about Google Meet. Now, Mark, you're the Director of Product Management from Google Meet Hardware and Voice.
Mark Ewin: That's right. I'm excited to be here on the floor at ISE, demoing some of our hardware and talking about how Google is enhancing collaboration with Gemini AI for Google Workspace.
Craig Durr: You know, it's interesting you said that because like I said, we spoke last year and we talked about it as Duet AI.
Mark Ewin: That's right, that's right. And we've rebranded since then. In 2024, we had a big rebrand for the entire company's AI suite under Gemini. So we're excited. We've been hitting the ground running with Workspace with that. And the biggest news lately is that we have repackaged Gemini, and now Gemini features are available for any Workspace customer who is using Workspace. It's huge. Big change for us.
Craig Durr: This is fantastic. So it's no longer an add on, but any customer that actually currently subscribes to Workspace as a platform actually has access to the Gemini features.
Mark Ewin: That's right. And for me as a product person, that's really exciting because that means every Workspace customer has access to our awesome Gemini features, which means our platform for impacting and enhancing collaboration and productivity just expanded.
Craig Durr: Let's go ahead and dive into that little bit farther then. Tell me about some of the features in Gemini. Let's talk about the Google Meet experience, for example.
Mark Ewin: Sure. Well, I got to start with "take notes for me." So we launched our AI meeting summary product. It provides meeting summaries. It provides AIs after the meeting. It does it in real time. But the best part is that it's fully integrated in the Google Workspace suite. So it generates a Google Doc that's shared in Drive with all meeting participants, sends out the notes in Gmail and attaches the file directly to the Calendar invite.
So it's there for everybody who participated in the meeting. Or if you missed the meeting, to come back and see the notes, see what happened, and catch up.
Craig Durr: Well, that's pretty powerful. So Gemini AI is actually taking this meeting and continuing it post-meeting experience. But there's other things it does. You had a great story, you told me about when you were the person that did not speak the native language in a meeting. Tell me about that.
Mark Ewin: That's true. So let's talk about translated captions. Thanks for that example. So, I was in a meeting with a Japanese customer last week. I'm the only non-Japanese speaker in the room. And so with live translated captions, I was able to follow the meeting because I had English-translated captions in real time for the conversation that was happening around me. I was able to engage with the customer, keep up with everything. And because I was in the meeting room, I was able to just join with Companion. And from my laptop, I had my own personal translator.
Craig Durr: Oh, but you know, one of the ones I really enjoyed seeing was this adaptive audio experience. Explain to the audience about that one.
Mark Ewin: Yeah. Okay. So if you are, like me, you may be surprised, but at Google we have a really, really hard time finding bookable conference rooms for meetings, especially if they're ad hoc. So what happens to me frequently when I've got a few collaborators in the office, and we want to talk to some people who are in a remote location, we go look for a meeting room and surprise, surprise, we can't find one. Then, we go find an alcove, and a few of us go and dial in to the same meeting from our laptop. Google Meet’s adaptive audio feature automatically syncs the microphones of those laptops so that we're all dialed into the same meeting in the same space, without that awful echo and howling sound that you get when you normally have multiple personal devices, in the same space. But it allows me to create ad hoc conference rooms wherever I am.
Craig Durr: Wow. So adaptive audio… Now, this is actually part of Gemini. I mean, how do I have this enabled so that I can try this adaptive audio experience?
Mark Ewin: That's the best part. So now that we are including Gemini features with the core Workspace SKUs, you have access to it right now–all of our customers have access to it.
Craig Durr: So as a Workspace subscriber, I have access to all these features that you just talked about.
Mark Ewin: That's right. One hundred percent.
Craig Durr: Well, now let's take this and transition more into the room experience. You guys have been really developing your hardware partnerships… a couple over the last year since we spoke. Why don't you talk to me about some updates within that space?
Mark Ewin: Sure. So I think the biggest thing for us is our Android platform expansion with Logitech and Poly. We had a big announcement with Logitech last year. And that expansion has been really nice to see. Customer reception is great.
Craig Durr: The Rally Bar Mini.
Mark Ewin: That's right.
Craig Durr: It was a great device. I like that. And then the Poly portfolio is also fully expanded as well.
Mark Ewin: That's right. We've got the X series. We've got the Rally series. And these are in high demand with our customers. But another nice thing that we've done is–we also are making it easier to set up your Google Meet rooms and get your licenses. So we've got, easy free ten-pack trial that IT admins can access and activate directly from the admin console.
Craig Durr: Wow. So it's that much. It's removing that friction within that whole experience there as well.
Mark Ewin: Yeah, we've gotten some feedback on this, and we're really responding to it so that the people who are managing the fleets, who are delivering this experience for their customers, we want to make it easy.
Craig Durr: Good. This is a lot you got going on. Let's go ahead and go through some of these key takeaways you talked about. We're no longer in the world of Duet AI, this is Gemini, and this is actually integrated to all those Workspace SKUs that we talked about before, right?
Mark Ewin: Yep.
Craig Durr: Now, some of the AI implementations take place not only in meat but actually in the room as well. I love the translate captions example that you have that really brings it to life. This is one that you don't think about until you actually experience it firsthand, right? And then your expansion of these partnerships, what you've been doing with Logi and with Poly to fully fill out your Android portfolio as well and support for that.
You guys have been having a pretty busy year in the last year.
Mark Ewin: Yeah, we've had a busy one and we're having, hopefully, a very busy ISE down at our booth and our demos. And we've actually brought a lot of the engineering and product experts who built the products there. So if you want to come and see the live demos and also talk to the people who spent hours and hours and hours building the products and designing them, please go down and see the booth.
Craig Durr: These are some of the smartest people in the industry. I've talked to them myself. These are people that you want to ask your toughest questions to. So what are you saying is a call to action. They can go down, visit the booth?
Mark Ewin: Yes, they can go down and visit the booth. They can visit the Workspace updates blog. There are many different places to come and check us out.
Craig Durr: Okay, perfect. Mark, this is fantastic. I really appreciate this update that you did.
Everyone, I want to thank Mark for coming and sharing this information with us. My name is Craig Durr. We are still here Direct from the Expo at ISE 2025. Please stay tuned for some more exciting updates from the show. Take care.
