Google just announced a new set of artificial intelligence tools that could change the way we use some of its most popular apps, including Gmail, Google Docs, and more.
in both official blog post (opens in a new tab) And in the video (below), the tech giant revealed several new AI tools that will be used in its most popular apps. The first batch will initially only be a select group of testers in Gmail and Google Docs, but we’ve also gotten an enticing preview of testers for Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Meet.
The move is most likely to compete with rivals in the AI space, such as Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing and Microsoft 365. Since artificial intelligence has grown in popularity, Google has been scrambling to catch up with the moves its rivals are making in the market, even pushing out one to announce the launch of its own Google Bard chatbot, which is still not available to the public. And a presentation so impressive it even made its own employees roll their eyes.
Still, the results we saw in this demo look more practical and promising than the AI tools Google has announced so far. They’re already integrated into Google Workspace, so users will soon be able to use generative AI in a variety of writing functions. Currently, these new tools are only available to trusted testers, but in the future they will be rolled out to all Google users.
So, in no particular order, here are all the best AI tools in Google’s lineup.
The 5 Most Useful AI Tools in Google Apps
1. Gmail: Instant Digest of Long Conversations
If you’ve ever opened a work email only to find a very long and confusing email chain, this tool might be for you. This particular AI tool lets you quickly summarize long email conversations, extracting the most relevant information and putting it in a neat box.
From what we’ve seen from this demo, it even adds the names of the people involved in the conversation, making the summaries more contextual and clear. It drafts a response based on all the information it gathers. Of course, it remains to be seen how accurate this tool is, as any missing information in the above summary could adversely affect your work.
Most likely, it will use machine learning to improve the quality of its work, which should mean it won’t skip important information because it’s being used more often.
2. Gmail and Google Docs: Time-Saving Drafts When Entering Subjects
Of all the AI tools shown in Google’s demo, this AI writing and brainstorming feature looked the most promising. As shown in the demo, the prompt “write it for me” followed by the request “job posting for regional sales rep” results in an instant drafted job posting.
Human users can of course edit and refine the document from there, but creating a draft right away saves a lot of time and effort. You can also use the tool to add certain tones to your document, such as whimsical or formal, depending on the situation.
This AI tool has a lot of flexibility, and the fact that it works for drafting documents and emails should make it even more valuable.
3. Google Slides: AI-generated presentations with images
This is arguably the most controversial of Google’s new batch of AI tools. At the heart of the concept is creating slides for presentations in Google Slides, a clever idea that saves a lot of time and effort in creating layouts on the fly. However, unlike other tools that use text that you or a colleague has already written, this tool creates images, audio and video, which are then inserted into your presentation.
But where do these media come from? Of course, the database collected by Google artificial intelligence. But where does the AI draw references to generate this content? That’s the problem, and something Google probably needs to fix.
As it stands, the technology has been misused to the point of plagiarism, and it remains to be seen whether Google uses personal databases or pulls content from the internet to create it.
4. Google Meet: Capture notes with AI
This is another AI feature that saves a lot of time and effort. The tool captures notes from conference calls and other audio conferences, then records “notes” of that meeting, summarizing the most important points in an easy-to-parse format.
From the demo, the most impressive part of this note-taking tool is how it organizes notes, using complex formatting like bullet points, calendar icons to indicate important dates, headings, and more. Not only does it look very organized, but it works much faster than a human.
This tool leaves time and energy for everyone to focus on the meeting itself, without the need for someone else to take those notes. Means everyone can participate.
5. Google Sheets: Autofill data entries with AI
Data entry can be repetitive and boring at times, and can even be confusing when dealing with extremely large datasets. This AI tool is especially handy when it comes to parsing large amounts of information and then turning that information into data graphs.
The demo shows the command “personalize message for our customers” and then creates a unique message next to each entry for each entry, most likely a mailing list. A task that takes a long time for a person is done in an instant.
Of course, a human has to edit each message for quality, but finishing a draft is a useful and time-saving first step.
