In a blog post today, Google announced several artificial intelligence (AI) features for its various workspace apps, including Google Docs, Gmail, Sheets, and Slides.
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Google seems excited to catch up with the competition in the new AI race. ChatGPT seems to have disorganized the entire industry, and things didn’t get any better when Microsoft launched its chatbot-enabled Bing. This has caused the search giant to panic and launch similar AI features. The company, known internally as “Code Red,” reportedly sounded the alarm last December, urging all developers to start integrating AI tools into all of its user products by 2023.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT seems to have brought some good competition to the scene as Google’s new artificial intelligence (AI) features. These include new ways to generate, summarize, and brainstorm text with AI in Google Docs (similar to how many people use it), the option to generate full emails in Gmail based on users’ short bullet points, and the ability to use AI to create images. Audio and video to illustrate presentations in slides.
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The full list below shows the AI-enabled features that Google says will be available in Workspace apps in the future:
Design, reply, summarize and prioritize GmailBrainstorm, proofread, write and rewrite in DocsBring your creative vision to life with auto-generated images, audio and video files in SlidesGo, from raw data to insights and analysis, auto-completion, formula generation, and contextual Categorize in SheetsGenerate new backgrounds and capture notes in MeetEnable workflows to get things done in chat
An example of AI in Google Docs that converts a prompt into a full job description. Image: Google
Of all the new features, the artificial intelligence writing and brainstorming tools in Docs and Gmail seem to be the most potentially useful. In an example demo (GIF above), a user sees the prompt “Help me write” and then enters a request: “Job Posting for a Regional Sales Representative.” The AI system then completes the job description for them in seconds and lets them edit and refine the text.
Microsoft is rumored to be building similar features into its suite of Office apps, including Word, Teams, and Outlook. Microsoft famously unsettled Google this year with the launch of the new Bing. Microsoft has scheduled an event where it will detail its plans for “the future of working with AI” later this week, on March 16th.
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