AI-Powered Productivity: The Future of Work Is Now

Secure, Smart, Simple.  That was one of Google Workspace’s tag lines during the G Suite era.  It’s one of my favorite tag lines, and I don’t think I could develop a better one with unlimited words.  Security is Google’s foremost priority. Without world-class security, organizations are not going to use your product. Smart is where Google shines. It’s difficult to summarize how Google is smart in just a few sentences.  We will dive deeper into smart in the rest of the article. Lastly, simplicity is critical for user enablement.  Users will not realize the benefits if you have a tool that can do amazing things but requires a two-hundred-page manual.  

Back to smart.  One way Google makes its applications smart is by integrating AI into features throughout the platform. In the past 18 months, there has been a wave of seemingly endless AI applications and integrations. This wave makes AI appear as a new technology, but it has existed for decades. You may not realize that Google Workspace has been using AI for years. One example is the Explore feature. It is one of my favorite features. Available in each editor but is most helpful for me in Sheets. The Explore became generally available in 2016. Explore is just one example of many using AI.

Google Workspace has integrated generative AI, Duet AI, into its suite of applications to enhance collaboration and productivity. Wikipedia defines generative AI as “a type of  AI system capable of generating text, images, or other media in response to prompts. Generative AI models learn the patterns and structure of their input training data, and then generate new data that has similar characteristics.”

On the Workspace Blog, Google provided some of the available features:

• Helping you write and refine content in Gmail and Google Docs
• Creating original images from text, right within Google Slides
• Turning ideas into action and data into insights with Google Sheets
• Helping to foster more meaningful connections in Google Meet
• Keeping you in the flow of work with AI building blocks in Docs

One of the features you can test in Workspace labs is “Help me write.”   If you are unfamiliar with Workspace Labs, it is a trusted tester for users to try new AI features.  You can submit this form to try Workspace’s new AI features. The official release date is later this year.  I’ve tested Help me write in Gmail and Docs. Help me visualize in Slides and Help me organize in Sheets has not been rolled out yet to my environment, but as soon as they become available, I will test their functionality.  Help me write is a great tool to help you start or get unstuck when writing.  You might ask for just a list of ideas, or you could have Help me write start drafting content for you.

Increase Productivity with the Help me write feature

I will use Help me write to create a blog post for our example. You will see a button in a Google Doc that says Help me write. As you start writing, the button will disappear, and there will be a small pencil icon with a plus sign. I’ll have Google help me get started.

My first prompt to Help me write I ask for ideas for a blog post.  I know the post will be related to Google Workspace, but I need some help developing ideas. I used the prompt: “Provide me with some ideas for a blog post about Google Workspace.”

Since we are talking about Duet AI, a significant aspect of  Workspace’s future, I will write about the future of Google Workspace.  Now that I have my topic, I will get more ideas from Help me write. I used the prompt: “Ideas for content in a blog post about the future of Google Workspace.”

The results are good ideas, but I want more information. I hit the refine button, giving me multiple options. I will select elaborate to get additional information.

It’s time to start writing. I will include my previous prompt's results in my following prompt. I used the prompt “write a blog post on the Future of Workspace, here are details you can use:” Then I copied the results into the prompt.

Now I have a lot of ideas, more than enough for a blog post. The last prompt I want to share helps in a different way than the prompts above.  I will use Help me write to summarize information.  It helps me understand the content and gives me an idea of what to include in my writing.  I am not writing the blog post from this example, so I will use this article and have Help me write summarize it. For the prompt, I simply entered “Summary of this blog post:”  and copied and pasted this article.

Here is the summary Help me write provided.  I have not edited this summary in any way.

The blog post discusses how Google Workspace is using AI to make its applications smarter and more user-friendly. It mentions some of the specific features that have been implemented, such as Help me write, which can help users with brainstorming, writing, and editing content. The post also discusses the future of Google Workspace and how AI will continue to play a role in its development.

Overall, the blog post provides a good overview of how Google Workspace is using AI to improve its products and services. It is well-written and easy to follow, and it provides valuable information for anyone who is interested in learning more about AI and its applications.

Here are some additional details that were not included in the blog post:

• Google Workspace is also using AI to improve its security features. For example, AI can be used to identify and block phishing emails.
• AI is also being used to personalize the user experience in Google Workspace. For example, AI can be used to recommend content that is relevant to the user's interests.
• Google is committed to continuing to develop and improve its AI capabilities. It believes that AI has the potential to revolutionize the way people work and live.

As you can see, it summarized the article and provided additional information not included. Each of those results can help when refining a post. Updates are needed to ensure you get your point across if the summary doesn't match your expectations. Review the details not included to verify.  Google Workspace has constantly been pushing the boundaries of collaboration and productivity. Duet AI is Google's latest product that revolutionizes your interaction with Google Workspace. Help me write is just the beginning for Duet AI. I’m excited to see how it evolves and how organizations utilize AI to increase productivity. If you have questions about Duet AI or anything Google Workspace related, please contact the Suitebriar team.