The 5 most exciting AI tools coming to Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, and more

Google has just announced a huge set of new AI tools that could change the way we use some of its most popular apps, including Gmail, Google Docs and more.

In both an official blog post and video (below) the tech giant revealed several new AI tools that will be coming to its most popular apps. The first ones will initially only come to select group of testers in Gmail and Google Docs, but we've also been given a tantalizing preview of the ones coming to Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Meet, too.

The move is most likely to rival competitors in the AI space like Microsoft's ChatGPT-powered Bing and Microsoft 365. Since AI has grown in popularity, Google has been scrambling to match its rivals' moves in the market, going so far as rushing out an announcement of its own Google Bard chatbot, which still isn't open to the public. There was also an underwhelming presentation that even had its own employees rolling their eyes.

Still, the results from what we've seen in this demonstration look far more practical and promising than the AI tools Google has announced so far. They've been integrated into Google Workspace, so users will soon be able to use generative AI in several writing features. For now, only trusted testers will have access to these new tools but after that, they'll be rolled out to all Google users.

So, in no particular order, here are all the best AI tools coming to Google's line of products.

The 5 most useful AI tools coming to Google apps

1. Gmail: instant summaries of long conversations

a screenshot of an AI generated email

(Image credit: Future)

If you've ever opened up your work email only to find an extremely long and confusing email chain, this tool could be for you. This particular AI tool allows you to quickly summarize long email conversations, pulling out the most pertinent information and laying it out in a neat box.

From what we've seen from this demo, it even adds the names of those involved in the conversation, giving the summary even more context and clarity. And it drafts a response based on all the information gathered. Of course, it remains to be seen how accurate this tool will be, as any missing information from said summary could be detrimental to your work.

Most likely, it'll use machine learning to improve its quality of work, which should mean it doesn't skip important information as it's used more often.

2. Gmail and Google Docs: time-saving drafts when you type in a topic

a screenshot of an AI generated summary in google docs

(Image credit: Future)

Out of all the AI tools showcased in Google's presentation, this AI writing and brainstorming feature looks to be the most promising. As demonstrated in the demo, a prompt that states “Help me write” followed by the request “Job post for a regional sales rep” results in an instantly drafted job post.

From there of course the human user would edit and refine the document, but having a draft instantly created saves plenty of time and effort. You can also use the tool to add certain tones to your document depending on the situation, like whimsical or formal.

There's a lot of flexibility in this AI tool, and the fact that it works for both drafting documents and emails should make it even more valuable.

3. Google Slides: AI-generated presentations with imagery

a screenshot of an AI generated images in a presentation

(Image credit: Future)

This is easily the most controversial of the new batch of Google's AI tools. The core of the concept, creating slides for a presentation in Google Slides, is a smart one that could save a lot of time and energy in terms of creating layouts instantly. However, unlike the other tools that use text already written by either you or coworkers, this tool creates images, audio, and video, then inserts it into your presentation.

But where does that media come from? A database gathered by Google's AI of course. But then where does the AI pull the references from to generate this content? That's the problem and something Google will likely need to address.

As it stands, there's been a lot of misuse of this tech to the point of even plagiarism, and it remains to be seen if Google is using a personal database or pulling from the internet to create this content.

4. Google Meet: capture notes through AI

a screenshot of AI generated notes in google meet

(Image credit: Future)

This is another AI feature that could potentially save a lot of time and effort. This tool captures notes from conference calls and other meetings with audio, then takes “notes” of that meeting, summarizing the most important points in an easy-to-parse format.

Judging from the demo, the most impressive part of this note-taking tool is how it organizes the notes, using complex formattings like bullet points, calendar icons to indicate an important date, headings, and more. It not only looks incredibly organized but works at a far faster rate than a human could.

This tool would leave time and energy for everyone to focus on the meeting itself and not need to devote a person to take these notes. Meaning that everyone can participate.

5. Google Sheets: auto-fill data entry with AI

a screenshot of AI generated entries in google sheets

(Image credit: Future)

Data entry can be repetitive and boring at times, or even confusing when dealing with extremely large sets of data. This AI tool would be especially handy in parsing dense amounts of information, then converting that information into data charts.

The demo showed the command “Personalize messages for our client” and then next to each entry created a unique message for each of them, most likely as a mailing list. A task that would take a human a long time to accomplish was done in an instant. 

Of course, a human would have to edit each message to ensure quality, but having the drafts done is an incredibly useful and time-saving first step.

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Windows 11’s ChatGPT-powered Bing AI taskbar is nothing more than a pointless ad

Microsoft released a new Windows 11 update on Wednesday, March 1, and all everyone is talking about is how the update emphasises putting artificial intelligence first… and how it falls short of that rather severely. 

The AI-powered search box is now set up in the taskbar by default, which may or may not be helpful depending on your disposition towards AI and ‘helpful’ chatbots. The update to the taskbar is amongst many other improved features that are packaged in with the recent Windows 11 update, so it’ll be hard to avoid or ignore if you’re not a fan of ChatGPT. 

ChatGPT is the AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI that allows users to interact with the bot and ask it to do anything from brainstorm recipes, breakdown complex ideas, writing and edit large copies of text or just having a little chat. The bot uses machine learning to analyze prompts given by users and respond using data input by the user and information from its database. Microsoft launched its collaboration with ChatGPT early last month and has had its share of meltdowns and inaccuracies since then.

It’s a little too early to get a grasp on how successful this new Windows 11 update has been with integrating ChatGPT-powered AI search, but so far it doesn't seem like the taskbar update has been well received.  In fact, I would argue it’s just a heavy-handed advertisement for Bing, Microsoft’s largely unloved search engine, and takes away consumer autonomy to decide whether or not they want to dabble in AI. This is not to bash ChatGPT and its fans, but more a finger wag at the mass implementation that takes away the ability to choose.

Say you were a sceptic or someone who didn’t know much about ChatGPT or Bing AI, you don’t really have a choice on whether or not you want access to Bing AI and there doesn’t seem to be a way to get rid of its addition to your Windows 11 desktop.

The announcement from Microsoft gives off the impression that the entire search experience on Windows 11 will now be supercharged by AI, but that’s far from the case. 

There’s no quick search in the taskbar that’ll spit out intelligently thought-out results. Fans or curious users looking to use Bing’s AI search engine don’t have integration within Windows 11 in the capacity seemingly promised by yesterday's announcement. The scale with which AI integration has been promised compared to what we've actually got doesn't match up.

Instead, users now have the ability to launch Bing’s new chatbot without actually having to type ‘bing.com’ into a web browser first. That’s it. The blog post says users have “ the amazing capabilities of the new AI-powered Bing directly into the taskbar “ which is not true at all. You get a banner for Bing on the Windows search page and two prompts to help suggest what to do when you click on any of the related buttons and get whisked off to Microsoft's Edge browser, in what feels like a calculated attempt to force more people to use it. 

Once Microsoft Edge is open, you can use Bing as you please if you’re registered. I was taken to the login/registration page since I was yet to make an account, but it‘s incredibly annoying to be sold the idea of having access to Bing AI’s chatbot from the comfort of your immediate desktop and instead being taken to a new program and webpage instead. Windows isn’t doing anything AI related, since Microsoft hasn’t added AI to search on Windows in the new feature drop as you may think, which makes the ChatGPT-powered version of Bing in Windows 11 just feel like an empty advertisement. 


Analysis: Who is this for? 

This definitely feels like a manifestation of something a lot of people were worried about when Microsoft announced its partnership with ChatGPT and implemented it into Bing: essentially, another way for Microsoft to try to force people into using Bing and Edge in favour of the software they actually use. 

We’ve all seen the pathetic little banners that come up on Edge while you’re setting up your PC and trying to download Chrome or Firefox, and this definitely feels like Microsoft has put the metaphorical foot down and made sure that if you want to use your taskbar search or try out Bing AI, you’re going to have to do it on their terms. 

Regardless of how you feel about AI chatbots or just AI technology in general, there’s no denying the update to the taskbar is less than useful. There are a lot of more interesting, and useful feature updates that have been overshadowed by the glaring blip of the Bing AI taskbar update.  

The lack of a clear opt-out option does seem to solidify the idea that not only is the ‘shortcut to Bing AI’ here to stay, but it’s only to be accessed on Microsoft’s terms.

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Chats in Google Messages are about to get even more secure

Google has announced that it's bringing end-to-end encryption to group chats in the Google Messages app. The security upgrade is heading to beta users first before being rolled out more widely.

End-to-end encryption means no one, not even Google, can read the content of messages. It's already supported in the Google Messages app for one-to-one chats, but now (via The Verge) it's going to be added to group conversations as well.

“End-to-end encryption is starting to roll out for group chats and will be available to some users in the open beta program over the coming weeks,” Google says. “This shouldn’t even be a thought – just an expectation and something anyone texting should not have to worry about.”

From SMS to RCS

In the same announcement blog post, Google revealed that the ability to quickly react to a message with any emoji is coming to Google Messages soon as well. At the moment, only a selection of emojis can be used as reactions.

Alongside a mention of these new features, Google also continued to push hard for RCS (Rich Communication Services) to become the new standard for everyone – the technology, an upgrade on SMS, is now widely available but has yet to be adopted by Apple on its iPhones.

Google's post also acknowledged the 30th anniversary of the SMS, a milestone which emphasizes how old the technology is as well as how overdue we now are for a standard that can fully replace it.


Analysis: SMS should really be history

The arrival of SMS three decades ago helped to transform the way that we communicate with each other – even if the messages were limited in terms of characters, and many phones could only store a limited number of texts at any one time.

Now, apps like WhatsApp and Slack have taken us far, far beyond those limitations. Messages can be much longer and include photos, videos or audio, and we can even tell when recipients have opened up the messages we send them.

It's benefits like these that make RCS a worthwhile upgrade, improving the security of messages and making features such as group chats much better. Google didn't create the standard, but it is heavily promoting it.

However, whenever an iPhone user texts an Android user, SMS is still the protocol used. Google wants that to change, but it's unlikely that Apple ever will – Apple knows that iMessage is one of the key reasons that people stick with iPhones.

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Communities makes WhatsApp more like Discord or Slack

WhatsApp has pushed out numerous tweaks and improvements in recent months, and there's a new one to know about: the Communities feature that works in a similar way to public servers on Discord or Slack, which can then be split up into smaller groups as needed.

As per the official blog post announcing the news, Communities will “enable people to bring together separate groups under one umbrella to better organize conversations”. The update is being rolled out now and will take a few weeks to reach everyone.

The idea is that the feature will make it easier for non-profit organizations, local clubs, schools and other groups to communicate within their groups – these communities might be used by school heads to share important announcements and updates, for example.

Even more new features

WhatsApp is introducing a bunch of other new features for group chats too, whether or not they're part of Communities: voice calls for up to 32 users, upgraded file sharing capacities (up to 2GB), and the ability for admins to delete messages that aren't appropriate for the group.

We're also going to get emoji reactions to messages – the same reactions you've probably become used to in every other chat platform out there, including Discord, Slack, and indeed Facebook Messenger.

It sounds as though at least some of these features will be released to beta users first before everyone gets access to them, so don't panic if you can't see them straight away. For more details on what's involved, see the official blog post.


Analysis: Meta wants all of your chats, all of the time

Meta chief Mark Zuckberg is no stranger to ripping off the best features of other apps – or indeed apps in their entirety. Take the stories feature of Snapchat, for example: once Zuckerberg realized how popular the format was, it was rushed into Instagram and Facebook as quickly as possible.

Instagram and Facebook have since tried their best to copy TikTok and piggyback on its success, though these efforts aren't getting much traction for the time being. Don't forget both Instagram and WhatsApp were bought and swallowed up by Facebook as they were starting to take away its market share, whereas Snapchat famously rebuffed Facebook's advances.

With that in mind, WhatsApp's introduction of features familiar from Discord and Slack shouldn't really come as any surprise. Zuckerberg himself says Communities is “an important evolution for WhatsApp and online communication overall”, spoken like someone who has used these other products that WhatsApp is competing with and see how intuitive they can be.

As Slack has been with us for eight years at this point, WhatsApp is actually quite slow off the mark, but the intention is clear – to make sure you spend as little time as possible in apps that aren't made by Meta. As with every other tech giant out there, Meta is keen to lock you into its products as tightly as possible.

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New Final Cut Pro update brings Mac Studio support, Voice Isolation, and more

Apple has released the next version of Final Cut Pro, version 10.6.2, and introduces a host of new improvements and new features, including optimizations for Mac Studio workstations, and introduces new Duplicate Detection and Voice Isolation features.

For the Mac Studio, the new update is somewhat vague other than indicating that there have been optimizations for playback and graphics performance on both the M1 Max and M1 Ultra versions of the Mac Studio, but users should see an overall improvement in performance.

Duplicate detection, as the name suggests, searches for duplicate ranges within the timeline and marks the clips for easier editing, something that would be especially helpful for long-form content. 

Meanwhile, Voice Isolation, as the name suggests, is a feature that uses machine learning to isolate voice frequencies from other sounds in the background.

Other improvements to Final Cut Pro include updates to its companion apps Motion and Compressor, various updates to Tracker Options/Object Tracker, and other performance and reliability enhancements. 

iMovie has also been updated to its 3.0 version, which adds Storyboards and Magic Movie features.

The full release notes for the update are:

Via 9to5mac

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Outlook update will give you more control over those nagging notifications

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be difficult especially as notifications begin to pile up on your smartphone which is why Microsoft is rolling out a new update to its email service.

According to a new post on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, the software giant has updated its email client with new settings that make it easier to manage email notifications on mobile.

These new settings are now rolling out to smartphones running both Android and iOS so that Outlook users can stay on top of the things that matter to them and ignore the ones that don’t.

Upgrading Outlook for hybrid work

In a separate post on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, Microsoft has revealed that it will add working hours and location settings to Outlook later this summer.

Whether you’re still working from home or back at the office as part of your organization’s hybrid work model, you’ll soon be able to add your working hours and location in Outlook. This will allow your co-workers and others to know exactly when they can reach you so that they won’t need to worry about bothering you during your off hours.

While this feature was initially added to the Microsoft 365 roadmap back in December of last year, it will finally become generally available beginning in June of this year.

By allowing users to more easily manage their notifications and let others know where and for how long they plan to work each day, Microsoft is giving workers the tools they need to succeed in a hybrid working world.

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Outlook update will give you more control over those nagging notifications

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be difficult especially as notifications begin to pile up on your smartphone which is why Microsoft is rolling out a new update to its email service.

According to a new post on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, the software giant has updated its email client with new settings that make it easier to manage email notifications on mobile.

These new settings are now rolling out to smartphones running both Android and iOS so that Outlook users can stay on top of the things that matter to them and ignore the ones that don’t.

Upgrading Outlook for hybrid work

In a separate post on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, Microsoft has revealed that it will add working hours and location settings to Outlook later this summer.

Whether you’re still working from home or back at the office as part of your organization’s hybrid work model, you’ll soon be able to add your working hours and location in Outlook. This will allow your co-workers and others to know exactly when they can reach you so that they won’t need to worry about bothering you during your off hours.

While this feature was initially added to the Microsoft 365 roadmap back in December of last year, it will finally become generally available beginning in June of this year.

By allowing users to more easily manage their notifications and let others know where and for how long they plan to work each day, Microsoft is giving workers the tools they need to succeed in a hybrid working world.

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Our favorite Microsoft Teams feature is coming to more users

Microsoft is preparing an update for collaboration platform Teams that will extend access to of the most useful features to a wider range of users.

As explained in a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, Microsoft is bringing the meeting transcription service to customers running Teams on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

The update is currently scheduled to take effect in June, after which employees using virtual machines will have full access to the feature.

Microsoft Teams update

The transcription feature was first made available to Teams users roughly a year ago, giving meeting attendees an easy way to review the conversation after the fact. It also gives anyone either late to join or unable to participate the ability to catch up after a meeting has concluded.

“Live transcripts provide a way to follow along with what has been said and who said it. After a meeting, the transcript file is automatically saved in the chat tab for that meeting,” the roadmap entry explains.

Until now, the feature has been available exclusively to employees running the standard Microsoft Teams clients for desktop and mobile, excluding the fairly sizable section of users running Teams out of a virtual machine.

With the upcoming update, however, Microsoft will ensure that all users are able to benefit from the functionality.

The broad objective is to ensure the meeting experience is consistent for all Microsoft Teams users, no matter which client or hardware they are using to dial in. Beyond the transcription feature, the company has made a number of recent additions with this goal in mind.

For example, Microsoft recently extended access to background blur to VDI users, announced an update that will improve the meeting experience on Mozilla Firefox, and enabled the live captions feature for guest users.

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