From editing tools to smart features, Google brings in AI power to 'Workspace' services

During the Cloud Next 2024 event, Google announced many new functionalities and AI-powered tools for Google Workspace services like Gmail, Docs, and Drive. From an innovative AI-driven video editor to an enhanced writing assistant in Gmail, here's what's Google announced: 

Google Vids: Video editing powered by AI

Google revealed an addition to its workspace app called ‘Google Vids’, an application capable of crafting editable storyboards, selecting video styles, and recommending scenes from stock media like videos, images, and background tunes. Moreover, users can incorporate preset voiceovers or create their own.

Gemini AI boost to Gmail

Voice prompts are being integrated into the 'Help Me Write' feature of the Gmail mobile app, enabling users to compose and send emails using their voice across Android and iOS platforms. Additionally, a new 'instant polish' feature harnesses Gemini AI within Gmail, crafting emails swiftly from rough notes with just a click. These new Gmail features are slated to soon reach Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business customers, as well as Google One AI Premium subscribers.

Revamped Google Sheets and Docs features

Google Sheets is receiving a tables feature for data formatting and organisation, accompanied by new templates for specific projects such as event planning and inventory management. These enhancements will be accessible across all Workspace plans in the upcoming weeks. As for Google Docs, a revamped tabs experience promises streamlined organisation of related information within documents, coupled with personalisation options like full-bleed cover images for documents. These features will roll out to all users in the coming weeks.

Auto-translated captions in Google Meet

Scheduled for a June release, the 'Translate for Me' feature in Google Meet will automatically detect and translate captions into the user's preferred language in real time, supporting 52 additional languages, making the total supported languages to 69. This feature will be part of a new AI Meetings and Messaging add-on priced at $10 per user per month, expandable to select Workspace plans.

AI-driven security for Google Drive

Google introduces a new ‘AI Security’ feature for Google Drive, empowering IT teams to automatically identify, classify, and safeguard sensitive files company-wide in Google Drive. Utilising privacy-preserving AI models trained on organisation-specific data, this feature ensures the classification and protection of sensitive files within Drive. The feature can now be accessed by specific Workspace subscriptions at a rate of $10 per user per month.