What you need to know
- Google announced new generative AI tools for Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Meet and Chat.
- Docs and Gmail are among the first to receive new AI assistants, offering a way to compose job descriptions, formal emails, and more with a single prompt.
- These new features are rolling out today to our trusted testers.
- Trusted Tester also provides new development tools such as PaLM API and MakerSuite.
As the competition for AI-generated content quickly saturates, Google’s latest announcement is about bringing the same power to its workspace suite.
ChatGPT seemed like a bit of a “wake-up” call as Google quickly found a way to push back in the AI tools race. The company has already announced the development of its own AI chatbot, Bard. Today, Google announced a new direction for its Workspace suite through the power of generative AI, starting with Gmail and Docs.
The purpose of this new tool is for users to click on it and type in the topic they want to write about, or let the AI companion help them with the rest. Google says it can handle topics ranging from writing your own job description to drafting your child’s birthday invitation.
There are additional tools for users in case they need or want to tweak the AI results a bit more by editing the AI results or asking for more suggestions.
Sending the right kind of email can be a little tricky. So Google’s generative AI helper is also built into his Gmail. After testing, users will be able to compose their emails and tap the AI tool. This will give you some more ways to help. For example, when you use this tool to “formalize” an email, the AI takes what the user wrote and, if necessary, transforms it into something a little more business-friendly.
There are some additional options, such as asking the AI to expand a bit more on what it’s given, or to shorten it if you’re looking for a quick short-form email.
Beyond Docs and Gmail, users will soon be using Google’s generative AI in Slides, Sheets, Meet and Chat. These new AI features are rolling out to our trusted Google testers for the first time this month, but once testing is complete, users can expect even more features within Workspace.
- Gmail Drafts, Replies, Summarize & Prioritize
- Brainstorm, proofread, write, and rewrite documents
- Bring your creative vision to life with auto-generated images, audio, and video in your slides
- Go from raw data to insight and analysis with auto-completion, formula generation and contextual categorization in spreadsheets
- Generate new backgrounds and take notes in Meet
- Enable workflows to get work done in chat
As Google strives to make its new generative AI tools easier to use and understand for users, it introduced two new tools: the PaLM API and MakerSuite. The PaLM API allows developers to build on Google’s existing language models, while MakerSuite is a vehicle for prototyping ideas.
Trusted testers also have access to Vertex AI, which supports generative AI alongside the generative AI app builder. Vertex AI helps developers build and deploy machine learning models and AI applications, and App Builder helps businesses create their own AI-powered chats and assistants.
AI helpers are very useful for certain aspects of life that can baffle us, but they are not foolproof.As Google put it, “AI sometimes gets things wrong.” AI hallucinations are real, and ChatGPT suffers from them, offering factual errors and references to things that weren’t even put into the prompt.
Google still has some work to do in this department. Because testing definitely has its own ups and downs in getting it (somewhat) right. The company says it will “remain in control of the user,” and that “AI does not replace the ingenuity, creativity, and intelligence of real people,” and that what is returned is edited to be correct. You can confirm that
