Google brings AI to Workspace, including Gmail and Docs, in bid to challenge Microsoft

AI has been a big talking point in recent weeks, with the likes of Microsoft and Google introducing their own AI-powered features to their software and products already. Following Microsoft’s integration of its AI-powered Bing to Windows, Google is the next to introduce AI to its suite of tools, with the tech giant announcing that it’s bringing AI to its Google Workspace suite of apps.

According to Google, they’re bringing the power of generative AI, allowing users to create, connect and collaborate while working like never before. Google claims that with these new AI tools, users will be able to do the following:

• draft, reply, summarise, and prioritise your Gmail
• brainstorm, proofread, write, and rewrite in Docs
• bring your creative vision to life with auto-generated images, audio, and video in Slides
• go from raw data to insights and analysis via auto completion, formula generation, and contextual categorization in Sheets
• generate new backgrounds and capture notes in Meet
• enable workflows for getting things done in Chat

Specifically, there will be a number of AI-powered writing features in Docs and Gmail rolling out to a select group of trusted users in the US first. One such feature is generative AI to help people start writing. Basically, if you’ve ever stared at a blank page wondering how to start with your draft, Google’s AI is here to help. You can simply type in a topic you want to write about first, and Google’s AI will help you draft one out first, with the AI then helping you to refine and edit the copy as you work on it and provide you with more suggestions as needed.

Google’s AI-based capabilities will also help you find the right tone and style when drafting out your emails. Gmail will now be able to help you rewrite your email after you’ve drafted it out to help you polish your message before you hit send. You’ll even be able to let the AI takeover altogether by hitting the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ option in Gmail. The AI tools can then write out your emails in different ways, be it in more formal or fun ways. You can even just write out a bunch of pointers for the AI to turn into a full email when drafting out your message.

Google though does acknowledge that AI is not perfect—far from it in fact. They state that their tools are all in accordance with their own AI principles that will ensure you’re the one in control, with AI only there to help you with suggestions that you’ll ultimately need to approve, edit or change altogether.

“As we’ve experimented with generative AI ourselves, one thing is clear: AI is no replacement for the ingenuity, creativity, and smarts of real people. Sometimes the AI gets things wrong, sometimes it delights you with something offbeat, and oftentimes it requires guidance,” – Johanna Voolich Wright, Google Vice President of Product Management, Google Workspace

As mentioned earlier, they aren’t the only ones betting big on AI. Google’s move comes right after Microsoft’s successful preview of its AI-powered Bing search tools, with the Redmond company also bringing the new Bing to Windows 11. You can read more about here, but Microsoft had basically integrated its AI-powered Bing right into the Windows search box. This allows users to access the new Bing directly off the Windows 11 search box, which they say is already one of the most widely used features on Windows. Microsoft claims that with the new Bing on Windows, it’ll help users find the answers they’re looking for faster than before.