The Pixel Phone app might soon let you respond to calls with AI messages

• An AI upgrade for Call Screen has been spotted
• It’s likely to be powered by Gemini Nano AI
• More advanced AI responses could be offered

If you’ve got one of the best Pixel phones in your pocket, then you can use the Call Screen feature to have a Google bot answer incoming calls and ask what the call is about – and it looks like more AI trickery is about to be added too.

The team at 9to5Google did some digging into the Phone app for Pixels, and found code hinting that advanced AI replies would be available in the future. These would most likely be powered by Google’s Gemini AI chatbot.

You already get a comprehensive experience from Call Screen as it works today: the caller hears a spoken message asking them to state their business, and you get a text transcript of what they’ve said. You can then join the call, or send some basic responses – like “call me back” or “thank you” – if you’re not available to talk.

This new upgrade would make those responses more varied and complex, powered by a large language model. It seems that you would still get the option to choose from a selection of responses on the screen, rather than starting from scratch.

Updates ahoy

Call Screen was only just updated last month, with more context-aware quick replies – ones that aren’t just generic responses (so if the call is about an appointment, you might see “confirm” or “cancel” options, for example).

It’s not clear exactly how the more detailed responses might work, as the 9to5Google team wasn’t able to dig out any screenshots or get the feature turned on, but the new answers will most probably be along similar lines to a typical Gemini AI chatbot response.

Another bunch of Pixel updates – which Google calls Pixel Drops – should be announced very soon, though this particular new feature might not be included. Google may need more time to refine the way it works, and it’s worth noting that the hidden code already includes the standard disclaimer about the unreliability of AI responses.

If the feature does need on-board AI processing from the Gemini Nano model, this will only work on the Pixel 8 Pro and the Pixel 9 phones (Gemini Nano is also on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a, though it’s not currently enabled).