Google Gemini Now Lets You Watch Videos on Google Drive

Google believes that no one wants to rewatch their hour-long meeting recordings. Starting Wednesday, the company's Gemini AI can now summarize videos stored in Google Drive, extract action items, and answer specific questions about the video content—making it the latest tech giant to tackle the growing pile of recorded meetings in corporate cloud storage.

Key Points:

• Gemini can summarize and answer questions about videos in Google Drive.
• The feature requires captions and currently supports only English.
• Accessible via Google Drive’s overlay preview or a new browser tab.
• Available to Google Workspace and Google One AI premium users.

This feature arrives as businesses face what industry analysts call the "meeting recording paradox." While companies increasingly record meetings for documentation and inclusivity purposes, few employees actually go back to watch them.

"Videos contain rich information, but reviewing them can be time-consuming," Google noted in its announcement. The new feature allows users to click the Gemini star icon in any Drive video player to get instant summaries, extract specific action items, or ask targeted questions, such as "What did Sarah say about the Q3 budget?"

For Google, this move serves a dual purpose. First, it makes Drive more attractive to business customers who might otherwise turn to specialized tools. Second, it showcases Gemini's capabilities in the AI arms race against OpenAI and other competitors.

The feature requires that videos have captions—a limitation that reflects the current state of AI video analysis. Google Gemini uses YouTube-generated text, such as captions and transcripts, to create summaries. This approach avoids the computational intensity of analyzing raw video while still delivering value.

Early adopters may include sales teams analyzing customer calls, HR departments reviewing training sessions, and project managers trying to catch up on missed meetings. Sales managers and team leaders can turn meeting recordings into teachable moments for their teams. Recordings can help them review how their teams interact with clients and identify areas for improvement.

But the real test will be accuracy. While Google touts Gemini’s ability to understand context and nuances, summarizing videos remains challenging. Background noise, multiple speakers, and technical jargon can confuse even sophisticated AI systems.

This rollout follows Google's typical pattern: a gradual release over 15 days to rapid-launch domains, with scheduled domains set to receive it on June 16. It is available to users with Google Workspace Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Gemini Education or Gemini Education Advanced Add-on, and Google One AI Premium subscriptions.

In addition to video summarization, Google has introduced a new feature in Google Drive that displays video engagement data. Users can now see how many times a video has been opened in the details panel under the analytics section, providing insights into video reach and engagement.

With these updates, Google continues to enhance the functionality of its Workspace tools, leveraging AI to make information more accessible and improve workflow efficiency.