Google’s announcements at the Google I/O 2024 event were all about artificial intelligence. The company has integrated the Gemini AI into Docs, Drive, Gmail, and other Workspace applications, adding a virtual assistant to the right sidebar of these apps. This virtual assistant will be consistent across all applications, understanding everything happening within them.
The aim here seems to be to seamlessly connect all Workspace applications, as desired by users, according to Aparna Pappu, Vice President of Google Workspace. With Gemini having access to all your documents, emails, and files, it can answer all your questions without the need to switch apps.
With the support of Gemini 1.5 Pro, Pappu provided an example scenario where Gemini organizes your invoices. You can simply tell Gemini in the sidebar to ‘Put my expenses in a Drive folder,’ and it will organize your invoices, which can be found anywhere in your emails, files, or other applications, and track your expenses.
While discussing the highly popular “Smart Compose” feature in Gmail, Google mentioned that by basing the model on your data instead of the entire internet, it can reduce the model’s tendency to hallucinate and make other errors.
Among the new features is email summarization. With Gemini 1.5 Pro, when you have a series of emails that you don’t have time to read, you can click on the “summarize this email” option to receive a summary card containing the key points of the email or email series. You can also ask questions in the summary card and have Gemini search your email and attachments for answers. Beyond searches, there’s a new Question-Answer feature (“When is my book order arriving?”), providing quick access to answers.
The third feature consists of contextual smart reply suggestions, where Gemini offers potential email responses based on previously discussed topics. Unlike basic predictive response tools, this new function will suggest customized responses based on Gemini’s review of previous discussions.
Google stated that these features will first be available for users to try out in Google Workspace Labs, a program where users can test artificial intelligence. Additionally, Gemini for Workspace sidebar will be widely available in June.
