Google’s new AI feature helps Gen Zers who are afraid to make a phone call

Socially anxious Gen Zers, rejoice: Google’s new AI search feature will make phone calls so you don’t have to.

The feature, which launches today, is designed to help users check current pricing and availability for services at local businesses through an AI-powered calling function. According to a Google spokesperson, it’s an example of how agentic AI—or a model capable of thinking, planning, and acting autonomously in real time—can help make everyday tasks easier by acting on behalf of a user. 

While the spokesperson says that the tool was made for all users, the Google team thinks it might be particularly helpful for Gen Zers, who tend to be more reticent to make phone calls than other generations. A 2024 study by the company Uswitch showed that a quarter of 18 to 34-year-olds never answer the phone at all. The phenomenon even has a name: telephobia.

According to a May survey by Google, users aged 18-24 already show higher engagement than other generations when they use Google’s existing AI Overviews tool in search. Now, Google is hoping that agentic AI might also help young users tackle certain quotidian tasks without ever picking up the phone.

An AI bot for appointments and inquiries

To use the new tool, users simply need to search a query related to local small businesses, like, “nail salons near me” or “local dog groomers.” These types of requests will yield a prompt that says, “Have AI check pricing” directly beneath the map of suggested businesses.

If a user clicks that prompt, they’ll be taken through a short questionnaire related to their needs—in the dog groomer example, that might mean follow-ups like, “what kind of dog do you have?” or “what service do you need?” Using those responses, an AI will then make calls to several of the top suggested businesses based on Google reviews, and return to the user with an email or text of each pet groomer’s response. While this questionnaire step does take some extra time, the spokesperson notes that it saves the user from needing to make all of the calls themselves, and the whole process should take 30 minutes or less.

On the business end, the tool sets a daily limit of how many times one business can be contacted within a day, as well as providing each business an opportunity to opt out of the calls if they choose. 

Currently, Google’s AI-powered calling feature is available for a select group of local business categories, including beauty and wellness, auto maintenance, pet services, and professional services. In the future, though, the Google spokesperson says there’s plenty of room to expand this option to additional domains. It’s essentially outsourcing the drudgery (and, for some Gen Zers, anxiety) of making a new appointment to your own personal assistant.