During the company's big Cloud Next 2024 presentation, Google announced a number of new artificial intelligence projects. Most of these improvements are reserved for Google Workspace, which means you won't get them through your personal Google account (unless you pay for Workspace yourself). That said, if your company or enterprise uses Google Workspace, you'll get some new AI-powered tools to help you get your work done.
The big new feature here is the ability to use your voice to trigger Google's "Help me write" feature: previously, you'd need to right-click in an open text field to use "Help me write," which, as the name suggests, lets you Start writing with generative AI when you can't think of a word. Now, you can use your voice to ask Gemini what you want it to write — another step toward making Google's artificial intelligence more like a smart assistant.
Another new feature exclusive to Gmail: Next time you write a draft of an email, you might see the "Edit Draft" option, which will use Gemini to rewrite the existing draft into something more beautiful. I imagine that in the near future all of our communications will sound exactly the same.
Google Sheets users will soon see the option to launch alerts when cells change, which will keep everyone in the file informed. Google is also taking its new templates seriously, claiming that they will ensure you "never have to build a spreadsheet from scratch again."
Google Docs, on the other hand, gets a label for the first time. This is a great addition for anyone who frequently switches between multiple documents covering similar topics: instead of drafting different documents, you can launch new tabs in the same document, which should reduce your Time spent looking around for reference.
You can also find Gemini in Google Chat, which helps you summarize messages and respond to chat-related queries. In an upcoming update, Google Chat will automatically translate messages into the language of your choice, and chat will support up to 500,000 members. Speaking of translation, Google Meet can automatically translate conversations in up to 69 languages. As Gemini transcribes the speakers on the call, you'll see the transcripts appear on the screen. Google is currently testing the ability for Google Meet to take notes for you in preview. These features will be included as optional add-ons for $10 per user per month.
Perhaps the highlight of the announcement, however, is Google Vids. While it sounds like an artificial intelligence program for generating videos, it's much more sophisticated than that. You tell Vids what you want to add to your video, and the AI outputs a storyboard you can use. It then writes a draft using footage, images, music, and sound effects that you can edit as needed. You can even add a voiceover using your own voice or one of Google's voices. Google's goal is to "help anyone become a great storyteller at work." Personally, I'm glad Google didn't create a full AI video for a simple work meeting. I think, leave this matter to OpenAI.
