Google introduces Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar, an extension of Gemini 3.8 Live that adds near real-time visual presence to its conversational AI.
Google Gemini now supports Live Avatars for Enterprise customers. Organizations can create avatars based on real people or animated characters, each with its own voice. Furthermore, the avatar performs tasks in the background while the conversation continues. The new avatars are powered by Google’s latest Gemini 3.8 Live model.
This new feature primarily targets enterprise scenarios such as customer service, virtual reception desks, or interactive tours. Live Avatar is immediately available within Gemini Enterprise.
Visual presence
The core of Gemini 3.8 Live Avatar is the coupling of near real-time video generation with speech output. The avatar responds immediately when the model speaks, with precise lip-syncing and natural expressions, all with low latency. As a result, a conversation feels more like a video call rather than a series of separate audio clips.
Google writes that Live Avatar does not just add video, but makes conversations truly multimodal. The model processes visual and audio input simultaneously: it can see what is happening on screen, listen to the user, and respond with combined audio and video output.
Continuous conversations
Under the hood, Gemini 3.8 Live Avatar uses the same reasoning capabilities as other Gemini models. A key feature is asynchronous tool calling: the avatar can access external tools or APIs in the background to retrieve data while the conversation continues. This ensures the user experiences no hard pauses when, for example, a system needs to be consulted.
Designing your own avatar
Live Avatar is built for use on a global scale, featuring native multilingual speech-to-speech functionality. The avatar can switch languages during a conversation and dynamically adjusts its lip-sync and facial expressions. According to Google, the technology supports up to 97 languages, including Dutch.
Google offers a library of preset avatars, but you can also create your own Live Avatar based on reference images. This capability is currently only available via Enterprise allowlisting.