Google updates Workspace to make AI your new office intern

This week at Google Cloud Next, the tech giant announced a slew of new updates to Workspace, its subscription-based productivity suite aimed at professionals. As you’d expect, the updates are heavily AI-focused, integrating new automation tools into various workflows – from composing emails to organizing Google Sheets. Overall, the changes are clearly intended to give office workers an edge in their quest for less busy work.

Here’s what’s new:

Intelligence in the workplace. Intelligence in the workplace, a new AI system Built into Google’s office suite, it is designed to automate assistance with various tasks. The system uses a user’s Workspace data, including Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive (Documents, Slides, and Sheets). Google has given users administrative control over what the AI ​​system can see and access. Users can disable Workspace Intelligence’s access to certain data sources at any time. The trade-off: the more data the system has access to, the better it can help in those specific areas.

Build and populate Google Sheets with Gemini. A number of new features allow users to both build and fill out Google Sheets, the company’s spreadsheet tool. Users can create worksheets by asking Gemini to create them. Prompts can include things like formatting and data retrieval, allowing Google’s AI system to do much of the work that a human would previously have to do. At the same time, Gemini also helps with data entry, automatic completion of worksheets with “prompt-based” filling. Google claims that this new feature will allow users to fill out the spreadsheets “9x faster” than manual entry because the system is designed to infer what you are about to enter. Another one new Sheets feature allows users to convert unstructured data into organized tables.

AI writing capabilities. Google has also brought new new AI writing tools to Google Docs. Users can now use Gemini to ‘generate, write and refine’ documents. The feature is powered by the company’s Workspace Intelligence system, which uses data from a user’s Drive, Chat, and Gmail archives, as well as the web, to assist with editorial tasks. Users just ask Gemini for help writing or editing their documents. Users can ask Gemini to “help me write” or ask it to “adjust” their writing style so that it can effectively mimic their voice.

Realize that business customers Where the money is, technology companies are racing to deploy the most useful and efficient office tools: applications that can make life a little easier for the average worker. Google has a certain advantage; Its office products are already deeply embedded in workplaces around the world, giving the company a built-in audience for these AI upgrades. But Microsoft, Apple and a growing number of startups are all vying for the same turf.