Google Meet employs AI to recognize raised hand gesture

During the world’s biggest educational technology exhibition, BETT 2023, the tech giant Google announced that Google Meet will receive an AI-powered hand raise gesture detection in the future. It was announced by Google in March 2023 and now the feature is ready to be rolled out.

When it comes to remote collaborations and communication, Google Meet is one of the most commonly used tools. It has several features that help with productivity and work efficiency. It has a tool named Hand Raise that shows other participants that someone is willing to share something during a meeting. It avoids the inconvenience of interrupting others while speaking. This tool can be found in the bottom toolbar. A tiny icon appears within the user’s video tile when the hand-raise button is clicked.

With the use of AI-powered gesture detection, Google is providing Meet users with more options. Users can now physically raise their hands to communicate with other participants during a video conference. The feature will require users to activate the camera during meetings. The hand of the user must be away from the body and face so AI can detect it. A “Raising your hand” progress bar will appear on the user’s screen to avoid false identifications. The raised hand will be shown to other participants once the progress bar is complete. The feature is unavailable when a user is an active speaker.

The new feature is currently being rolled out to users. The rollout will be complete in the next few weeks. The feature will be accessible to Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Starter, Business Standard, Education Plus, Google Workspace Business Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers, and Google Workspace Individual subscribers. The feature doesn’t fall under the admin control category, it has been turned off by default. It can be activated by heading to More Options. Click on Reactions and enable the Hand Raise Gesture.