Google is updating Workspace to make AI your new office reader

At Google Cloud Next this week, the tech giant announced a slew of new updates to Workspace, its subscription-based productivity app aimed at professionals. As you might expect, the updates are heavy on AI, including new tools that automate a variety of workflows—everything from writing emails to editing Google Sheets. Overall, the changes are clearly designed to give office workers a leg up in pursuing a less busy career.

Here’s what’s new:

Workspace Intelligence. Workspace Intelligence, a new AI system built into Google’s office space, is designed to help itself across a wide range of tasks. The system pulls from the user’s Workspace data, including their Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive (Docs, Slides, and Spreadsheets). Google has given users control over what the AI ​​system can see and access. Users can disable Workspace Intelligence access to specific data sources at any time. The tradeoff: the more data a system has access to, the more it can help in those specific areas.

Create and populate Google Sheets with Gemini. Many new features allow users to create and populate Google Sheets, the company’s spreadsheet tool. Users can create sheets by telling Gemini to create them. Information can include things like formatting and data retrieval, allowing Google’s AI system to do much of the work that a human would previously have had to do. At the same time, Gemini also helps with data entry, automatically filling Spreadsheets with “quick-based” filling. Google says its new feature allows users to fill out spreadsheets “9x faster” than manual input, because the system is designed to determine what you’re going to input. Another new feature of Spreadsheets allows users to convert unstructured data into structured tables.

The writing power of AI. Google is also bringing new AI writing tools to Google Docs. Users can now use Gemini to “generate, write, and refine” documents. This feature is powered by the company’s Workspace Intelligence system, which pulls data from a user’s Drive, Chat, and Gmail, as well as the Internet, to help with planning tasks. Users simply inform Gemini to help them write or edit their documents. Users can tell Gemini to “help me write” or ask it to “match” their writing style to effectively mimic their voice.

Realizing that business customers are where the money is, technology companies are racing to release the most convenient and efficient office tools—applications that can make the average worker’s life a matter of degrees easier. Google has a certain advantage; its office products are already deeply embedded in workplaces around the world, giving you a built-in audience for these AI developments. But Microsoft, Apple, and a growing field of startups are all competing on the same turf.