Google launches AI Edge Foresight, an offline-first Mac note-taker rivaling Granola

Google ships an offline meeting note-taker for Mac

Google has released AI Edge Foresight, a Mac application that captures and organizes meeting notes using models that run entirely on the device. According to TechCrunch, the app comes from the same team that built an AI-powered dictation tool Google shipped earlier this year in April, and it takes aim at Granola, one of the best-known names in AI note-taking.

At its core is EmbeddingGemma 2, an on-device model with 740 million parameters. Foresight can capture notes across applications, TechCrunch reports, including conversations from in-person meetings rather than only calls held inside video conferencing software.

The offline capability is a deliberate design choice. Google's FAQ page, cited by TechCrunch, says the app is tuned for Apple Silicon and can function with no internet connection at all, which means meeting notes remain fully workable while traveling or in places without reliable connectivity.

A familiar layout plus a personal knowledge base

Foresight closely mirrors Granola's approach to interface design. The app presents a split-screen view where users jot shorthand notes on one side while the AI produces its own generated notes on the other. Manual typing works alongside live transcription, and users can pull up the full transcript or query an assistant powered by Gemma 4 for answers about what was said.

The app also reaches beyond meetings. Users can upload PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Office files, plain text, Markdown documents and web bookmarks to assemble a knowledge base. When a discussion touches on material stored in that library, Foresight can surface answers in real time during the meeting.

Demonstration or product?

TechCrunch raises the question of intent. Google's earlier dictation app stayed experimental and never reached mainstream usage, and the new note-taker may largely serve to showcase what the Gemma series of offline models can do on consumer hardware. Still, the report suggests Google could follow up with a consumer version of a note-taker integrated into its Gemini apps, spanning video calling platforms and relying on cloud-based models rather than local ones.

A crowded category

Whatever Google's long-term plan, the segment is packed. TechCrunch notes that dictation company Wispr and scheduling company Calendly have both introduced their own note-takers in recent months, while productivity startup Superhuman, formerly Grammarly, acquired the YC-backed note-taker Fathom last month.

Why it matters

Foresight is a useful signal of where practical AI tooling is heading. A 740-million-parameter model running on a laptop is apparently now enough to handle transcription, note synthesis and retrieval over a personal document library without any server round-trip. For users, that implies lower latency and a privacy story that is straightforward to explain: meeting audio and uploaded documents never have to leave the machine.

It also shows Google hedging its bets. The company's flagship AI products run in the cloud, but Foresight demonstrates the Gemma family's offline capabilities in a real workflow, and if Google later folds this functionality into Gemini, the local-first version will have served as both an experiment and a public proof of concept. For competitors such as Granola, the arrival of a well-resourced rival that can iterate on its own on-device models is an uncomfortable development in an already crowded market.