Google beta testing new Pixel Call Screen, possibly with conversational AI

Abner Li | Jul 8 2023 - 3:19 pm PT

Pixel Call Assist is one of Google’s differentiating phone features and the company is actively beta testing new Call Screen capabilities.

This beta went under the radar before today, with Google announcing it in mid-May. There are two aspects to this Call Screen beta, starting with an “update to the settings UI.” At the end of that month, users started noticing simplified Call Screen settings. The new “Protection level” options have more widely rolled out since then:

Maximum: Screen unknown numbers and decline spam
Medium: Screen suspicious calls and decline spam
Basic: Decline only known spam

Simplicity looks to be Google’s intention behind this change, but some prefer the previous amount of granularity.

Meanwhile, the big change to Pixel Call Screen as part of this beta is a “more natural sounding series of voice prompts to determine who’s calling and why.”

Google is testing this with some owners of the Pixel 6 and newer devices in the US. Tensor is clearly required, and this suggests on-device AI is being leveraged. The goal is to “enhance our Call Screen capabilities and reduce robocalls, giving you time back and peace of mind.”

What devices can receive the beta?

Devices that may receive this beta will be the Pixel 6 and above, within the United States.

How can I check my Call Screen Settings to enable/disable the feature?

You can check out this helpful article for steps on checking your Call Screen settings.

When will this become available for everyone?

We’re looking forward to sharing more when the feature launches.

To provide feedback on your experience, please click on the Help Us Improve feedback button in your Phone by Google app whenever you see it in the Recents tab.

The company ends on how it’s “looking forward to sharing more about our work on this project in the months ahead.”

It comes as Google in April teased taking Pixel Call Screen “even further” this year with the help of “multi-step, multi-turn conversational AI.”

…future where you should never ever, ever be annoyed at the thought of your phone ringing. It should always be a moment where you assume it’s something important or something delightful. Nothing should ever bother you. And at the same time, you should never ever feel like you’re ineffective or unproductive on any phone call.

We speculated this could involve large language models (LLMs) and be timed with the Pixel 8. However, from the beta phrasing, it seems that older Tensor devices will also benefit.