It’s incredibly shocking to see more generative AI features coming to the Google Workspace productivity suite with Gemini. Docs, Sheets, Chat, Meetings, and Videos are all tools that are getting new AI capabilities that may be useful to some users.
Google is taking a cue from audio reviews in NotebookLM to bring new Gemini-powered audio features to Docs. Soon you’ll have the option to listen to full audio versions of documents or just the highlights in reviews, which Google calls podcasts. Participants in the Workspace alpha testing program can start trying out these audio features in the coming weeks.
By the end of June, alpha testers will have access to a kind of AI writing coach. The “help me improve” feature is said to offer advice on strengthening arguments, ensuring consistent formatting, improving text structure, and clarifying key points.
A similar feature is coming to Sheets later this year. The Help Me Analyze tool will point out trends you may not have noticed, offer suggestions on where to dig deeper for more information, and create charts to visualize data.
In Meet, you’ll soon be able to ask Gemini to remind you of parts of the meeting you missed due to tardiness, clarify certain decisions or topics, create a summary in a format of your choice, and help clarify questions before you raise your virtual hand to join the conversation. This so-called “personalized meeting advisor” will be generally available in Meet by the end of June.
On the chat side, Google will soon offer the ability to mention @gemini in a conversation to get a summary that includes open questions, important decisions that were made, and outlines next steps. This can be a useful way to highlight everything that happened in a noisy group chat. This feature will be available through the Labs early access program in the coming weeks.
In Vids, you’ll soon be able to create what Google calls “high-quality, original” clips using the Veo 2 model (perhaps ignoring the fact that generative AI models mix up the video footage they’ve been trained on and may not create anything truly original at all). The alpha version of the workspace may be available in the coming weeks.
In addition, there is another new feature called Google Workspace Flows. Google positions it as “an entirely new way to automate and organize work in your applications powered by artificial intelligence.” The company uses Gems, customized AI agents that can be created with Gemini, to perform specialized tasks such as research, analysis, and content creation.
The company says that Workspace Flows can, for example, respond to a support request by analyzing the problem, finding a solution, and preparing a response that the support team can review before sending it. Gems can analyze files from your Google Drive for context. Google is also working with third-party partners to integrate Workspace Flows into their apps and tools. Google is currently rolling out Workspace Flows in an alpha program.
Finally, starting today, Google will allow Workspace users to choose where Gemini processes their data. So if you’re in the European Union and don’t want your data to go to the United States (or vice versa), you now have that option. Google clearly explains that this is to help comply with regulations such as the EU GDPR.
