Google announces AI tools for its productivity apps

Google's response to the launch of GPT-4 was immediate, but by no means comparable to the new version of OpenAI and Microsoft's AI tool. The company went on to announce new AI features for its Workspace suite of apps (Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Slides, etc.).

Among these include the ability to ask the AI to prepare drafts, summaries and prioritize in Gmail; spell check and create full texts and summaries in Docs; create images, audio and video for presentations in Slides; prepare categorizations in Sheets; and create new backgrounds for video conferencing in Meet.

The issue in Google's case is that it is in a big hurry to announce new AI features for its services wanting not to fall behind Microsoft in the impression game. This is evident from the fact that only some of the aforementioned features will be available in this first phase and only for selected "trusted" users in the US.

There's no clear timeline for their wider launch, but at least the company promises that we'll see them in 2023. Also notable is the fact that the announcement makes no mention of its own AI chatbot, Google Bard...