diff --git a/gax/package.json b/gax/package.json
index b56988abb..eb1861c92 100644
--- a/gax/package.json
+++ b/gax/package.json
@@ -19,12 +19,14 @@
     "node-fetch": "^2.6.1",
     "object-hash": "^3.0.0",
     "proto3-json-serializer": "^2.0.0",
-    "protobufjs": "7.2.6",
-    "retry-request": "^7.0.0"
+    "retry-request": "^7.0.0",
+    "uuid": "^9.0.1",
+    "protobufjs": "7.2.6"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "@compodoc/compodoc": "1.1.23",
+    "@types/uuid": "^9.0.7",
     "@babel/plugin-proposal-private-methods": "^7.18.6",
+    "@compodoc/compodoc": "1.1.23",
     "@types/mocha": "^9.0.0",
     "@types/ncp": "^2.0.1",
     "@types/node": "^20.5.0",
diff --git a/gax/src/fallback.ts b/gax/src/fallback.ts
index cbc49dbff..8c6a8fa67 100644
--- a/gax/src/fallback.ts
+++ b/gax/src/fallback.ts
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ export {OperationsClient} from './operationsClient';
 export {IamClient} from './iamService';
 export {LocationsClient} from './locationService';
 
+export {makeUUID} from './util';
+
 export const defaultToObjectOptions = {
   keepCase: false,
   longs: String,
diff --git a/gax/src/index.ts b/gax/src/index.ts
index aca9bdfb0..2393ce798 100644
--- a/gax/src/index.ts
+++ b/gax/src/index.ts
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ export {
   PaginationResponse,
 } from './clientInterface';
 
+export {makeUUID} from './util';
+
 export {ServiceError, ChannelCredentials} from '@grpc/grpc-js';
 export {warn} from './warnings';
 
diff --git a/gax/src/util.ts b/gax/src/util.ts
index 264dddd5d..8aab5e316 100644
--- a/gax/src/util.ts
+++ b/gax/src/util.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
  */
+import {v4 as uuidv4} from 'uuid';
 
 function words(str: string, normalize = false) {
   if (normalize) {
@@ -103,3 +104,11 @@ export function toLowerCamelCase(str: string) {
   }
   return camelCase[0].toLowerCase() + camelCase.slice(1);
 }
+
+/**
+ * Converts a given string to lower camel case (forcing the first character to be
+ * in lower case).
+ */
+export function makeUUID() {
+  return uuidv4();
+}
diff --git a/gax/test/unit/util.ts b/gax/test/unit/util.ts
index 4b9879e28..614e1c06f 100644
--- a/gax/test/unit/util.ts
+++ b/gax/test/unit/util.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
   toCamelCase as snakeToCamelCase,
   camelToSnakeCase,
   toLowerCamelCase,
+  makeUUID,
 } from '../../src/util';
 
 describe('util.ts', () => {
@@ -79,4 +80,8 @@ describe('util.ts', () => {
       'pascalCaseString'
     );
   });
+
+  it('returns UUID', () => {
+    assert.match(makeUUID(), /[a-z0-9-]{36}/);
+  });
 });