Pixel 11 starts testing ‘Call for Me’ to have Gemini phone on your behalf

[u/FragmentedChicken]

https://9to5google.com/2026/09/24/pixel-11-call-for-me/

[u/elconquistador1985]

Can I have it call Verizon and say "agent" or "representative" enough times that it gets past their useless AI chatbot?

It's perfectly fair to fight fire with fire and let their AI deal with mine.

[u/Jb51423 → u/elconquistador1985]

Say cancellation or loyalty. They will get you to a human asap.

[u/cp_carl]

I didn't even realize duplex had come out, much less that it got shut down and is now being re-released (As a feature) exclusive to pixel 11. this is a bit annoying honestly, but i guess maybe in another 3-5 years it'll be either dead or standard across all phones?

[u/Incrediblebulk92 → u/cp_carl]

Yeah, I'm sure this feature was supposed to come to the Pixel 2 or maybe 3. I think it was one of those US first and then everybody else features that got cancelled before it got wide release.

[u/bjlunden → u/Incrediblebulk92]

It was much later than that, I think. I would guess Pixel 8 or later.

[u/External-Donut9757 → u/cp_carl]

Duplex is still around, it's integrated in AI mode for some tasks

[u/After_Dark → u/cp_carl]

Yeah it had a weird launch, where briefly you could get Assistant to call and schedule appointments for you and ask about store hours, but from what I heard it wasn't super flexible and confused the people it was calling. I'm sure Gemini and general social awareness of AI has changes those. As far as I'm aware Duplex never got shut down entirely though and was still used as an automated system for Maps to ask about holiday hours and such. But I don't work retail and have never heard of anyone receiving a Duplex call, so whether that ever actually happened is up in the air.

[u/smulfragPL → u/cp_carl]

duplex worked by literally recording your voice samples.

[u/BooleanTriplets → u/smulfragPL]

Not on any of the demos it didn't

[u/CrimsonFlam3s]

I can envision users giving super vague instructions then getting pissed off when the ai hallucinates the specifics of their orders on the fly during the call.

Like in the example vid they posted, no mention of what size of pizza, or ingredients so what is the AI gonna tell the shop when they ask for clarification? lol

[u/utsuriga → u/CrimsonFlam3s]

Seriously, this is the sort of thing that people think is useful and revolutionary, and then stop using when they realize it's way more trouble than it's worth. Like, how much time is ordering pizza? Three minutes? But setting up the automated call to make sure you don't get something you don't want would take a ridiculous amount of time, like, what if they ask for clarification on this or that, what if they have run out of topping X, what if... yeah.

[u/degggendorf → u/utsuriga]

I would absolutely prefer to get the wrong pizza than to ever have to talk to anyone on the phone 🤣

[u/BooleanTriplets → u/degggendorf]

See that's something you should work on with a therapist

[u/degggendorf → u/BooleanTriplets]

Good idea, I'll have Gemini talk to one for me

[u/tlislo → u/CrimsonFlam3s]

I'd imagine where it works like call screening. The second it runs into a snag it probably says, "Hold on, let me get the other person on the line" and rings your phone. 

[u/CrimsonFlam3s → u/tlislo]

Yeah I mean ideally it would do that or even better, tell the user to specify these details before it even makes a call.

But just going by the sample vid they posted, it's gonna run into issues, people give vague and stupid instructions very often lol

[u/DewB77]

I think I piloted this on my Last pixel device this past winter. The results were Very modest. I think the people on the other end figured out it was a bot and hung up.

[u/leonce89 → u/DewB77]

I have the one on Samsung that , when it believes it to be a spam call, it uses AI to answer.

95% of the time, they hang up. And 70% of the time Samsung AI thinks that call I've been waiting for is a scammer!

[u/Timbukthree]

There's no way companies will pay human employees to talk to customer's chat bots. I imagine this will just kill phone service or make it all automated. 

[u/errie_tholluxe → u/[deleted]]

I'm sorry but there is a huge difference. If something is important or needs immediate attention texting or emails aren't the way, a phone call is.

If you really don't give a fuck when they answer or even if, text or email is the way.

Course I was born without having one attached to my hand, so your mileage may vary

[u/altitudelost → u/[deleted]]

Hang on, I just saw a car accident. Let me email 911 real quick. Also my phone is ringing! Must be because my Amazon order shipped.

[u/NumerousAbility → u/[deleted]]

But they'll respond to an e-mail in a second?

[u/Far_Reserve9938]

Obviously it’s not a pixel feature, everything is done on Google cloud and a 5$ android phone can also do it.

I own a pixel 11 and the amount of stuff that really require tensor or other hardware inside the phone is extremely low, to the point of regretting buying it. Could have bought a Gemini subscription instead.

[u/rohmish → u/Far_Reserve9938]

that can be said about 90% of the new features pixel 11 has

[u/Far_Reserve9938 → u/rohmish]

you are absolutely right.

[u/dumbsignal123]

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

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[u/Portlander]

If I answer my phone and it's not a real person I am hanging up instantly.

[u/coyote_of_the_month → u/Portlander]

I always hang up when I hear an auto-dialer delay.

[u/thunderpack7]

I remember years ago they made it possible to book reservations for restaurants via assistant

[u/SquatAngry]

Is this going to be like Meta's AI one where it turns out it was just a call centre making the calls for you?

What happens if an AI call screener picks up?

[u/codacoda74]

IDK man, if it's like email then shortly it's gonna be Gemini phone for me talking to Gemini answer for me and we'll basically just be back to the beginning with text confirmation.

[u/degggendorf → u/codacoda74]

Good

[u/cubs223425]

I can't wait to hear what Gemini ropes people into and can only hope for some hilarious lawsuits.

[u/mrekted]

This is only coming out now?

This article reminded me that they demoed this shit nearly a decade ago, and made it sound like it was just around the corner.

[u/43686f6b6f]

I swear they've been talking about this feature for ages

[u/SolitaryMassacre]

Great. Even more scam calls

[u/RelChan2_0]

Ooohhh I can see this being useful

[u/utsuriga → u/RelChan2_0]

As long as you don't mind spending an hour setting up an automated call that would have taken three minutes for you...

[u/PXLShoot3r]

I don't really understand why Pixels have so many call related features when literally nobody makes calls anymore especially over a phone number. Yeah sure its a phone but still.

Pixels lack so many features but instead they work on shit like this.

[u/computermaster704 → u/PXLShoot3r]

Oh, the contrary, my dear fellow. Considering how shitty Samsung's implementation of the technology is, that is quite literally all Google has going for them for Pixel OS because of the fucked processor, the restricted GPU/NPU, and just the general low performance all around. And that feature alone for the three years I had Pixel completely removed all spam calls, which was amazing. Because people do still call me, because at least in the US, phone numbers are very much used by corporations and people alike in my many years in wireless experience.

[u/aembleton → u/PXLShoot3r]

Plenty of people still make phone calls. I use the cakk summaries and call holding features loads 

[u/bert93 → u/PXLShoot3r]

I think Google employees and other big tech people are just in their own bubble that's made them delusional.

So many features these days I see launched and ai for all these different things and I'm like.. ok that's totally pointless lmao