Gemini’s wild new Avatar feature is now rolling out more widely

There’s a moment during Gemini’s new Avatar setup process when things suddenly stop feeling like a fun AI demo and become extremely uncanny.

You sit there staring into your phone’s camera while Gemini asks you to slowly move your head from side to side and read out random numbers. A few seconds later, Google spits out a digital version of you, complete with your face and your voice. Then you watch it speak in videos you never actually recorded.

Google is now rolling out Gemini’s new Avatar feature more widely for paid Gemini subscribers, months after we first spotted the feature during an APK teardown back in March.

You can find and create your Gemini Avatar from the Gemini app under Settings > Avatar. The feature uses Google’s new Omni model to recreate your actual appearance and voice so you can generate content starring yourself. Once setup is complete, you can summon your avatar directly in Gemini chats by typing commands like @me or @your user name.

The setup process isn’t really elaborate or anything. You just have to record your face and voice while following a guided enrollment process. You’re asked to look into the camera, move your head, and read specific numbers aloud so the system can accurately map your facial structure and voice.

My avatar’s resemblance is honestly unsettling because it’s so believable. The facial movements and tone of voice are extremely realistic and could easily fool someone who doesn’t know me very well. Of course, I can tell it’s AI, but I expect most of my acquaintances won’t know the difference because the avatar doesn’t look like a cartoon version of me; it looks like a very polished digital clone.

Of course, Google knows a feature like this has the potential to be misused massively. Keeping that in mind, the company is baking in several security and privacy safeguards. Users must be at least 18 years old to access Avatar creation, and the account owner has to be physically present during the setup process.

Additionally, every video generated using the Omni-powered avatar system includes Google’s invisible SynthID watermark permanently embedded into the file. That means people can verify whether a clip was AI-generated by checking it in Chrome or through Google Search tools.