Google updates Workspace to build AI your latest office intern
At Google Cloud Next this week, the tech giant proclaimed a bevy of novel updates to Workspace, its subscription-based productivity suite aimed at professionals. As you might expect, the updates are heavy on AI, integrating novel automation tools into various workflowsâeverything from drafting emails to organizing Google Sheets. Overall, the changes are clearly designed to give office workers a leg up in their pursuit of less busy work.
Hereâs some of what is new:
Workspace Intelligence. Workspace Intelligence, a novel AI system built into Googleâs office suite, is designed to automate assistance across various tasks. The system draws on a userâs Workspace data, including their Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive (Docs, Slides, and Sheets). Google has given users administrative control over what the AI system can see and access. Users can disable Workspace Intelligenceâs access to particular data sources at any time. The tradeoff: the more data the system has access to, the more itâs able to assist in those particular areas.
Build and fill out Google Sheets with Gemini. A number of latest features allow users to both build and fill out Google Sheets, the companyâs spreadsheet tool. Users can construct sheets by prompting Gemini to construct them. Prompts can include things like formatting and data retrieval, allowing Googleâs AI system to do much of the work a human wouldâve previously needed to do. At the same time, Gemini also helps with data entry, automatically filling out Sheets with âprompt-basedâ filling. Google claims that its fresh feature allows users to populate the spreadsheets â9x fasterâ than manual entry, because the system is designed to infer what youâre going to enter. Another latest Sheets feature allows users to convert unstructured data into organized tables. This also touches on aspects of iOS.
AI writing capabilities. Google has also brought novel novel AI writing tools to Google Docs. Users can now adopt Gemini to âgenerate, write, and refineâ documents. The feature is powered by the companyâs Workspace Intelligence system, which draws on data from a userâs Drive, Chat, and Gmail archives, as well as the internet, to assist with editorial tasks. Users merely prompt Gemini to help them write or edit their documents. Users can prompt Gemini to âhelp me writeâ or ask it to âmatchâ their writing style so that it can effectively mimic their voice.
Realizing that enterprise customers are where the cash is, tech companies are racing to deploy the most convenient and efficient office toolsâapplications that can produce the average workerâs life a matter of degrees easier. Google has a certain advantage; its office products are already deeply embedded in workplaces worldwide, giving it a built-in audience for these AI upgrades. But Microsoft, Apple, and a growing field of startups are all competing for the same turf.
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