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Google Workspace is getting a talkative tool to help you collaborate better – meet your new colleague, AI Teammate
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If your workplace uses Google Workspace productivity suite of apps, then you might soon get a new teammate – an AI Teammate that is. 

In its mission to improve our real-life collaboration, Google has created a tool to pool shared documents, conversations, comments, chats, emails, and more into a singular virtual generative AI chatbot: the AI Teammate. 

Powered by Google's own Gemini generative AI model, AI Teammate is designed to help you concentrate more on your role within your organization and leave the tracking and tackling of collective assignments and tasks to the AI tool.

This virtual colleague will have its own identity, its own Workspace account, and a specifically defined role and objective to fulfil.

When AI Teammate is set up, it can be given a custom name, as well as have other modifications, including its job role, a description of how it's expected to help your team, and specific tasks it's supposed to carry out.

In a demonstration of an example AI Teammate at I/O 2024, Google showed a virtual teammate named 'Chip' who had access to a group chat of those involved in presenting the I/O 2024 demo. The presenter, Tony Vincent, explained that Chip was privy to a multitude of chat rooms that had been set up as part of preparing for the big event. 

Vincent then asks Chip if I/O storyboards had been approved – the type of question you'd possibly ask colleagues –  and Chip was able to answer as it can analyze all of these conversations that it had been keyed into. 

As AI Teammate is added to more threads, files, chats, emails, and other shared items, it builds a collective memory of the work shared in your organization. 

Google Workspace

(Image credit: Google)

In a second example, Vincent shows another chatroom for an upcoming product release and asks the room if the team is on track for the product's launch. In response, AI Teammate searches through everything it has access to like Drive, chat messages, and Gmail, and synthesizes all of the relevant information it finds to form its response. 

When it's ready (which looks like about a second or slightly less), AI Teammate delivers a digestible summary of its findings. It flagged up a potential issue to make the team aware, and then gave a timeline summary, showing the stages of the product's development. 

As the demo is taking place in a group space, Vincent stated that anyone can follow along and jump in at any point, for example asking a question about the summary or for AI Teammate to transfer its findings into a Doc file, which it does as soon as the Doc file is ready. 

AI Teammate becomes as useful as it's customized to be and Google promises that it can make your collaborative work seamless, being integrated into Google's host of existing products that many of us are already used to.

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Windows 11 fears over watermark for PCs that don’t meet AI Explorer requirements are unfounded, leaker clarifies
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Windows 11’s next big feature is rumored to be AI Explorer – indeed, it’s strongly rumored – and there’s been some controversy stirred up over how this might be implemented in the OS recently.

This was caused by a recent post on X (formerly Twitter) from well-known Microsoft leaker Albacore, who dug up clues in Windows 11 code that suggest AI Explorer checks the PC’s system components and warns if they don’t meet the requirements for the AI feature.

Some folks took this as a hint that maybe Microsoft could put a watermark in Windows 11 somewhere to enact this warning, but Albacore just tweeted again to clarify that this definitely won’t be the case.

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As you can see, the leaker clearly states that any warning about the system not hitting the necessary requirements would be purely placed within the AI Explorer interface itself. This means you’d open the AI Explorer app (it will be a standalone app, not to be confused with File Explorer), and it’d just present you with that info (“you can’t run this” essentially).

As Albacore says, there’d be no OS-wide nag flagging this up, such as a watermark or other banner elsewhere in the broader Windows 11 interface. This would just be confined to the AI Explorer app, so it wouldn’t bother you if you never went near it.

Analysis: Exploring an ARM-first strategy?

A further reminder Albacore provides here is that the requirements themselves for AI Explorer – which are, according to the info the leaker previously dug up, an insistence on 16GB of system RAM and, more controversially, an ARM CPU – could change.

That is, of course, something we pointed out back at the time when we reported on this. Not only are these requirements just in preview builds of Windows 11, but they’re tucked away in testing to boot. They could easily be altered later in the year when Windows 11 24H2 finally arrives with AI Explorer on board. (If the rumors are right – indeed, we don’t know for sure that will happen even. Microsoft could delay the implementation, after all, if AI Explorer isn’t working well enough by the time 24H2 rolls around).

Mind you, we can see why AI Explorer might have to be ARM-only to begin with – mainly because it leverages a powerful NPU (to presumably be responsive and nippy enough), and only Snapdragon X chips will have that to begin with. Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix Point mobile CPUs with equally beefy NPUs won’t be too far behind, mind you, and at that point, Microsoft will presumably open up AI Explorer more – if this is the path it takes in the first place.

It's not unthinkable that Microsoft might want to use AI Explorer to help shift units of its incoming Surface devices for consumers – running ARM (Snapdragon X) chips – either, at least to begin with. After all, Surface sales have been lackluster of late, and this could be a good way of firing up some enthusiasm for the range again, at least for a short time.

Yes, there are a lot of ifs and buts here, which is why we always advise a good dollop of caution with any leak. It’s good to hear the clarification that any AI Explorer warning won’t be a system-wide nag, though, even if we didn’t believe Microsoft would go that far in the first place – though some folks did, or at least theorized about that possibility.

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Google Meet to introduce an on-the-go mode for traveling meetings
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Sometimes users need to walk around during a conference call and, understanding that reality, Google is currently working on a new mode for Google Meet called ‘On-the-Go.’ This mode transforms the video conferencing Android app’s UI into a much simpler one that’s better suited for traveling outside while on a call.

The concept behind this mode is to make walking while tuned into a Google Meet meeting much safer. It accomplishes this by creating a much more intuitive layout that, according to 9to5Google, “will disable your camera in the call and stop streaming video from other participants. You’ll also be greeted with a new layout with only a handful of large, easily-pressed buttons for Mute, Audio (to switch between Bluetooth, speaker, etc.), and Raise (your hand).”

You can check out screenshots showcasing how the new layout will look once enabled:

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on the go feature screenshot

(Image credit: 9to5Google)
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on the go feature screenshot

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on the go feature screenshot

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on the go feature screenshot

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on the go feature screenshot

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on the go feature screenshot

(Image credit: 9to5Google)

‘On-the-Go’ can be enabled in two ways: the first is by Google Meet detecting through your smartphone’s motion sensors that you’re walking, it will prompt you to switch to the new mode. And for the second method, you can manually enable the mode through the in-call menu.

Google currently hasn’t rolled out the feature to everyone just yet, but judging by the screenshots it’s most likely close to a public release.

Google Meet is getting even better 

Google has been working on making its video call application much more functional and intuitive to use. Both 2022 and 2023 have seen a host of changes to the UI, with 2023 introducing ones like added new features to the picture-in-picture mode, blocking video feeds from other meeting participants to more easily focus on the people you want, and using generative AI to create new backgrounds during meetings.

Back in 2022, Google added several other features like subject tracking to better focus on a participant, letting users mute and unmute themselves on the desktop version by using the spacebar, and automatically adjusting a participant’s mic input to avoid particularly massive discrepancies in volumes.

It’s good to see that the tech giant is trying to better its service, considering how many people rely on it for remote work. While these seem like minor improvements, quality-of-life changes to an application or service always add up in big ways and really help to enhance the user experience.

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Google Meet thinks it might finally be able to topple Microsoft Teams at last
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Google is looking to up its game in the video conferencing space with the launch of several new AI-powered tools and services.

The company has revealed that Google Meet is getting some new AI boosts, aimed at making it a core part of your everyday working life, but also one that reflects you.

Revealed at Google I/O 2023, the tools use the newly-announced Duet AI for Google Workspace platform to allow users to generate their own customized virtual backgrounds based on text descriptions, opening up a whole world of possibilities.

Google Meet Duet AI

Google had hinted at plans for generative AI backgrounds in Meet earlier this year as part of its big Workspace AI push, but this marks the first time we've seen the technology in action.

In a demo at Google I/O, the company was able to demonstrate how just a few words could generate detailed backgrounds that let users show off a bit more personality whilst on a call. The company also mentioned potential examples such as a salesperson tailoring their background depending on which prospective client they are meeting with, or a manager celebrating the employee of the month with a personalized background of their favorite things in a team call.

Google Meet duet ai

(Image credit: Google)

“It's a subtle, personal touch to show you care about the people you're connecting with and what's important to them,” a Google blog post announcing the changes noted.

Duet AI is already a central background presence across Google Workspace, working in the background to assist on tasks such as writing Gmail messages or giving you prompts in Google Docs.

Along with Meet, the system is also be geared up for use across other key Google Workspace services such as Slides and Sheets as the company looks to make all your working tools smarter and more intuitive.

Opinion – enough to triumph over Microsoft Teams?

AI is everywhere in the software world right now, as companies of all sizes scramble to include the technology in their processes and platforms.

Video conferencing should be an ideal place for AI to make a real impact, boosting signal strength and call quality. But personalization is also another way for this new era of technology to make a difference. Now we're all used to video calls, making them more bearable is the next step, and customized backgrounds could be a small step towards that.

Just days after Microsoft Teams announced a whole host of new virtual backgrounds aimed at enhancing collaboration and productivity, including collections aimed at boosting mental health, Google Meet will be hoping its generative AI offering will be enough to capture user's attention.

In the end, it remains to be seen – do you want your workplace calls to be unique, special and customized – or keeping to some veneer of professionalism?

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Google Meet calls will now remove background noise, even if you dial in from your phone
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Google Meet calls are about to get more serene for phone users, thanks to the expansion of the video conferencing software's noise cancellation feature.

As part of a sweep of updates to Google Workspace, the company's suite of productivity tools, those who dial into a meeting from their phone can now enjoy the same elimination of background noise as desktop users. 

Google says the technology “can remove background noises such as typing, closing a door, room echo, or the sounds of a nearby construction site” to enable the complete focus of participants without distraction. It will also make them easier to hear too.

Select customers

The tech giant says that it only filters out noises that are not clearly those of a human voice. So voices coming from other sources, such as a nearby TV or radio, or other people talking in the room, will not be filtered out.

It therefore advises that if other sounds are needed in your call, such as the playing of musical instruments, for example, then noise cancellation should be turned off in order for them to be picked up. This is perhaps why for those subscribed to one of the educational tiers of Google Workspace, the feature is off by default.

To toggle noise cancellation on or off on, you need to tap or click the cog icon that open up the settings when on Google Meet. For iPhone and Android device users, they should see a noise cancellation option that they can tap to activate or deactivate. Desktop/ laptop users will find this option under the audio section of the settings. 

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However, it appears that for those calling into a meeting with their phone, noise cancellation is activated depending on whether your organization has it turned on or off beforehand. 

Noise cancellation for phone users is now available for the following Workspace customers only: Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Frontline”.

Noise cancellation in general is currently unavailable to those in “South Africa, UAE, and the immediately surrounding areas”. Google also mentions that those using an electrolarynx should have the feature turned off, and that Pexip device users have it on by default, and should refer to the device documentation to turn it off. 

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Google Meet can now fix your most embarrassing meeting fail
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Google has revealed a selection of tweaks and upgrades for Meet as it looks to help users improve their video conferencing experience.

The company has announced a centralized location for the controls used by hosts to manage a call, rather than splitting out various tools across the window, in a bid to simplify hosting duties.

Alongside this, Google Meet has also received a slightly sad-looking tool aimed at helping you leave a meeting if you're the only person present.

Google Meet empty calls

The new “leave empty call reminder” prompts users to leave a meeting if they're the only one to join a call, hopefully meaning an end to any awkward loitering if your co-workers have forgotten to join.

“Are you still there?” the prompt asks. “You've been waiting a long time. Do you want to keep waiting to join?”

Google Meet still joining call

(Image credit: Google Workspace)

“Now, when you’re the only person in a meeting for five minutes, you’ll receive a prompt asking whether you want to stay or leave the meeting,” the official Google Workspace update blog for the feature noted. “If you don’t respond after two minutes, you will automatically leave the meeting.”

Google says that it also hopes the feature will help prevent situations where your audio or video is unintentionally shared, so no-one should be able to eavesdrop on you just in case you do start up a call accidentally.

The feature is available for Google Meet on desktop and iOS devices to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers and users with personal Google accounts now, with an Android launch also scheduled “soon”.

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> Google Meet aims to tear down the language barrier

> Google Calendar update will stop meetings clogging up your day

> Massive Google Workspace update dials up the fight for hybrid working supremacy

The Host management menu updates are available for all Google Workspace users now, and can now be found under the “Host Controls” button located in the bottom bar in a Google Meet call. 

The update is only for desktop versions of Google Meet, where the company says host and co-host controls are currently spread across multiple locations.

“We hope this change makes it easier to manage your meeting settings by reducing the need to switch between various menus,” the company said.

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Google Meet can now fix your most embarrassing meeting fail
  • No Comments

Google has revealed a selection of tweaks and upgrades for Meet as it looks to help users improve their video conferencing experience.

The company has announced a centralized location for the controls used by hosts to manage a call, rather than splitting out various tools across the window, in a bid to simplify hosting duties.

Alongside this, Google Meet has also received a slightly sad-looking tool aimed at helping you leave a meeting if you're the only person present.

Google Meet empty calls

The new “leave empty call reminder” prompts users to leave a meeting if they're the only one to join a call, hopefully meaning an end to any awkward loitering if your co-workers have forgotten to join.

“Are you still there?” the prompt asks. “You've been waiting a long time. Do you want to keep waiting to join?”

Google Meet still joining call

(Image credit: Google Workspace)

“Now, when you’re the only person in a meeting for five minutes, you’ll receive a prompt asking whether you want to stay or leave the meeting,” the official Google Workspace update blog for the feature noted. “If you don’t respond after two minutes, you will automatically leave the meeting.”

Google says that it also hopes the feature will help prevent situations where your audio or video is unintentionally shared, so no-one should be able to eavesdrop on you just in case you do start up a call accidentally.

The feature is available for Google Meet on desktop and iOS devices to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers and users with personal Google accounts now, with an Android launch also scheduled “soon”.

Read more

> Google Meet aims to tear down the language barrier

> Google Calendar update will stop meetings clogging up your day

> Massive Google Workspace update dials up the fight for hybrid working supremacy

The Host management menu updates are available for all Google Workspace users now, and can now be found under the “Host Controls” button located in the bottom bar in a Google Meet call. 

The update is only for desktop versions of Google Meet, where the company says host and co-host controls are currently spread across multiple locations.

“We hope this change makes it easier to manage your meeting settings by reducing the need to switch between various menus,” the company said.

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PC doesn’t meet Windows 11 requirements? There’s a tool to fix that
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Got a PC that fails the Windows 11 system requirements? Thanks to an unofficial tool, you can create a Windows 11 image that will bypass the TPM system requirements that Microsoft set, enabling your ineligible PC to upgrade to the operating system.

Since Windows 11 was announced in June 2021, Microsoft was adamant that all PCs would have to meet its system requirements, such as enabling TPM, in order for the update to be eligible.

But according to Windows Latest, the Rufus tool will allow you to create a bootable USB drive thanks to an official Windows 11 image file, with checks in place that will allow your PC to bypass the system requirements.

But with this much power in one tool, we don't actually recommend using this to upgrade your PC to Windows 11 for now, unless you're certain you know what you're doing, and what the risks are.

Analysis: Unforeseen consequences could occur

Windows 11 with Rufus

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Microsoft's communication around explaining the requirements for Windows 11 in 2021 was poor at best, especially when it came to TPM. It also didn't help when its app to check if your PC was eligible to upgrade wasn't accurate in its results.

But there's still a wide pool of users who are on Windows 10 and don't see the need to upgrade their PC to use Windows 11, especially if they use their device for the occasional web browsing or gaming.

While this tool will grant these PCs a path to upgrade, we don't recommend using Rufus. The features that are in Windows 11, alongside what's coming up with its major upgrade, codenamed 'Sun Valley 2', will require some PCs to use more of the CPU, memory, and GPU in order to run the operating system in an efficient way.

This could cause a strain on the hardware, and you could have an incompatible PC running Windows 11 very slowly, to the point where it's an irritation. Microsoft has also made it be known that it will make updating unsupported PCs running Windows 11 difficult in the future, which could lock you out from getting important security fixes.

Perhaps you can use Rufus as a 'trial' for Windows 11, to see what you think of the update before you go all-in on a new PC. But as something to bypass the system requirements, we recommend holding off.

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Brave is now trying to dethrone Microsoft Teams and Google Meet
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Brave Software is rolling out a series of upgrades for its privacy-focused video conferencing service, Brave Talk.

As explained in a new blog post, the headline addition is a new browser extension that allows users to attach Brave Talk links to Google Calendar invitations, in the same way as they might with Google Meet. The idea is to give people a simpler way to integrate Brave Talk into their regular working routine.

Beyond the browser extension, the company has also expanded the free version of its video conferencing service, which now supports unlimited video calls for up to four participants (up from two).

The premium version (costing $ 7/month), meanwhile, has received a number of new business-centric features as part of the update, from breakout rooms to emoji reactions, attendee polls and advanced moderation facilities.

Brave tackles video conferencing

Brave is perhaps best known for its web browser of the same name, which blocks both ads and tracking cookies, but the company is expanding rapidly in new product areas. For example, there’s now a Brave VPN, firewall, crypto wallet, news aggregator and search engine, all of which are said to be optimized for privacy.

Pitched as an alternative to video conferencing services operated by the likes of Microsoft and Google, Brave Talk is another member of this growing portfolio.

“Unlike other video conferencing providers, which can involve collecting and sharing user data without adequate transparency and control, Brave Talk is designed to not share user information or contacts by default,” Brave states.

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“Brave Talk is designed to serve you, not track you, and is designed for unlinkability [whereby there is nothing that links a participant to a call]. This privacy protection carries through to the Google Calendar extension.”

For Google Workspace customers at least, the ability to add a Brave Talk link to a Google Calendar entry with ease will minimize the friction involved in switching service, a crucial factor in accelerating adoption.

The extension of the free service to include unlimited calls for up to four people, meanwhile, will make Brave Talk a perfectly viable option for anyone in need of a video conferencing service for occasional personal use.

The main caveat is that Brave Talk calls can only be hosted by someone that uses the Brave browser, which currently holds a comparatively tiny share of the market. The ability for Brave Talk to challenge the likes of Microsoft and Google in the video conferencing market, then, is tied to whether the company is able to challenge the same two rivals in the browser space too.

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Google Meet wants to try and fix patchy video calls for good
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Identifying the issues behind a sketchy or badly-connecting Google Meet video call could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new update.

The video conferencing platform has introduced a new service that will let admins monitor call quality and single out any issues or bandwidth bottlenecks.

The new Meet quality tool will even allow admins to monitor connections over time, spotting if there are any specific times when bandwidth may be in high demand.

Google Meet bandwidth

In a blog post announcing the new tool, Google notes that the service will monitor both inbound and outbound bandwidth, covering both used and available.

“Surfacing this information helps admins visualize participants bandwidth compared to the quality of a call, making it easier for them to determine where a bandwidth bottleneck could be causing low quality,” the company noted.

Google added that knowing which bitrates are available or being used for specific endpoints can be crucial when performing troubleshooting or working to improve call quality in your domain. However such data was previously only available as an average across entire calls, which can make it difficult to narrow down problems during specific points in time. 

“We hope by surfacing this detailed information, Admins can easily troubleshoot or improve call quality for their users,” it said.

The tool is available by default to all Google Workspace customers now, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.

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The news is the latest in a series of updates as Google looks to ensure its video calling tool stays up to speed with competitors such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

Some of its most recent upgrades include allowing up to 500 participants to join a video call at the same time to make it easier to connect and collaborate with colleagues, clients and customers.

Users can also enable live streaming in Google Meet which will allow up to 100,000 viewers to watch at once.

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