Google's Gemini just got a face, and companies get to pick the one that sells best.
The new Live Avatar feature, unveiled as part of Gemini 3.8 Live, puts a visual front end on Google's chatbot for enterprise customers. Businesses can choose a realistic human avatar or a cartoon character, and either one can see users through a live video feed, hold a conversation in 97 languages, and never break character. Google demoed the feature handling a hotel check-in and, separately, dispensing cat advice over a live video chat. The company says SynthID watermarking is built in as a safeguard alongside the multilingual rollout.
A face changes how people behave. Users tend to treat a friendly avatar like a person instead of software, and that trust makes them share more on camera and in voice than they would typing into a text box. For a company that already profits from knowing what people want, a chatty avatar is also a camera and a microphone with better manners.
Call it customer service if you like, but an avatar that never blinks and never breaks character is still collecting exactly what Google has always wanted: your face, your voice, and your words, all in one friendly package.