In a nutshell: Good news for people who hate talking on the phone, but less welcome for businesses: Google is rolling out a new feature directly into Search that uses agentic AI to call local companies on your behalf.

Google announced that its new feature harnesses the power of agentic AI to make phone calls to local businesses on your behalf, meaning there’s no need to endure the horror of interacting with another human being.

Google gives the example of searching for nearby pet groomers. Doing so will show a new option in the results to “Have AI check pricing.” From here, users can input details like their breed of dog, what services are required (bath, nails, etc.) and when they need an appointment. Google’s AI can call multiple businesses and compare the results.

Once the AI has completed the call(s), the user will receive the information it has gathered via email, SMS, or both, depending on which options were chosen.

There are some unspecified limitations placed on the system related to the number of calls someone can make, but Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers will receive “higher limits.”

In case business owners start wondering if every person they talk to is real or an AI, Google says that each call begins with an announcement that it is an automated calling system from Google speaking on behalf of a user.

Announcement or not, plenty of businesses might not be happy about receiving calls from an AI, especially if they’re concerned about being spammed with multiple inquiries that don’t lead to bookings. Google says companies can opt out of receiving these calls by altering the Business Profile settings.

If this all seems very familiar, you’re likely remembering Google Duplex. The AI system was first shown off way back in 2018, long before the current generative AI revolution. It was also able to book appointments with businesses over the phone by mimicking a human voice, and even used speech disfluencies such as “umm” and “ah” to make itself sound more human.

The backlash over the potential ethical questions Duplex posed led to Google making changes so the AI would identify itself when making calls, much like the current iteration.

In addition to the AI calls, Google is improving its AI Mode with the Gemini 2.5 model, which it says excels at advanced reasoning, math, and coding questions. However, this will only be available for Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers.