Tech Desk 
May 22, 2025
Announced during the Google I/O 2025 event, this new feature aims to break language barriers in online meetings by translating spoken words into another language while keeping voice, tone, and expressions intact.
As part of Google's effort to begin layering in the next generation of generative AI tools into a wider range of communications, Google Meet's real-time speech translation feature is rolling out in beta today for subscribers of Google’s AI Pro and new AI Ultra plan for $249.99 per month.
In a demo, there was an English speaker and a Spanish speaker talking to each other on Meet, and they didn't have to enable subtitles or use external translation tools.
After the Spanish speaker activated Gemini’s speech translation, the Spanish speaker's voice was automatically dubbed as English and replicated their speaking style and emotional tone.
Google Meet's speech translation function is currently only English and Spanish. The company says they have a few more languages coming soon: Italian, German and Portuguese.
This effort puts Google in direct competition with Microsoft Teams, who also introduced an AI speech translation feature in preview earlier in 2023.
