Guardian AI: Building a Real-Time Personal Safety App with Google Gemini Live API

Disclosure: This article and the Guardian AI project described herein were created for the purposes of entering the Google The Gemini Live Agent Challenge hackathon. The Problem I Wanted to Solve I was walking home late one evening when I realized something: my phone — capable of recording video, capturing audio, and connecting to the internet — couldn't help me in real time. It could only call for help after something happened. That's when I thought: What if my phone could see what I see, hear what I hear, and warn me before danger strikes? Personal safety apps exist, but they're all reactive: Panic buttons require you to recognize danger AND remember to press a button Location sharing only helps after an incident Check-in apps require you to stay engaged None of them are truly proactive . They don't watch. They don't listen. They don't speak. I wanted to build something different: an AI companion that's always paying attention, understands context, and can speak to you in a calm, nat