Google is rolling out AI-generated audio summaries in Google Docs. These summaries are powered by Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, and enable users to listen to a brief overview of their documents.
Google already released a Gemini-powered reader for Google Docs that narrates entire documents last year, so the introduction of summaries brings even more AI features to the text editor.
Audio summaries “provide a short verbal synopsis of the contents in your document, including multiple tabs.” They’re usually a few minutes long and use a natural speaking style, similar to how Gemini sounds inside its own app.
Users can personalize these AI-generated audio summaries to some extent by choosing different voices or adjusting the playback speed. Some of the available voice styles are narrator, persuader, coach, and more.
To access AI audio summaries on the web, go to Tools > Audio and click the new “Listen to document summary” option. Once you do this, a small audio player with the timeline scrubber will appear, and you can listen to the summary of your current document.
Google started rolling out this feature to users on February 12, and the rollout cycle is expected to conclude over the next 15 days. It’s worth mentioning that AI audio summaries in Google Docs aren’t available to everyone. Google is giving access to this feature mainly to subscribers of its AI and enterprise services.
Users of the following plans can summarize their documents with AI right now:
- Business Standard and Plus
- Enterprise Standard and Plus
- Google AI Ultra for Business add-on
- Google AI Pro for Education add-on
- Google AI Pro and Ultra
If you’re working on long pieces of text and don’t want to read the entire document yourself or listen to a full transcription to figure out how your document “feels,” these summaries might come in handy.