Google is overhauling its Workspace apps by integrating deeper Gemini AI capabilities to assist in document creation and editing. The updates allow Gemini to pull context from emails, files, and other sources to generate drafts and refine content. These features aim to streamline workflows for users across Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive.
Google has announced significant upgrades to its Workspace suite, powered by the Gemini AI model, focusing on enhancing content creation and editing processes. As stated in the announcement, 'We are reimagining how people create content,' with Gemini now able to draw information from across Workspace apps including Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Chat.
In Google Docs, users can access AI-powered tools via a chatbot-like interface at the bottom of a new document. By describing the desired content, Gemini generates an initial draft, incorporating data from specified sources such as emails or the web. Editing options include reformatting sections, applying AI-assisted style matching for collaborative work, and approving suggestions, which remain private until accepted.
For Sheets, Gemini supports creating spreadsheets from prompts, filling in missing data via web searches, and handling tasks from basic layouts to complex data analysis. Google claims these capabilities now approach human-level performance based on recent testing.
Slides receives functionality to build entire slides from prompts, pulling context from files and emails if enabled, with options to edit or rework them. Future updates will allow generating full presentations from a single prompt, though not available in the initial rollout.
Drive's search is also improving with AI overviews summarizing results and citations, plus 'Ask Gemini' buttons for deeper queries on files or folders. Outputs can be exported to new documents for further AI editing.
These features roll out first to Google AI Ultra and Pro subscribers, starting with Docs, Slides, and Sheets in English globally this spring, and Drive search in the US soon after. Users can disable 'Smart Features' in Workspace to opt out of Gemini while retaining other functionalities like Gmail tracking.
