MANILA - Users of Google’s suite of productivity apps will soon be able to use generative AI right in Gmail, Docs, Sheets and other services even as the tech giant seeks to reassure people that AI does not necessarily threaten jobs.

In February this year, Google unveiled Bard, its AI chatbot that aims to compete with OpenAi’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing AI.

The tech giant also announced in May that it was bringing its AI tech to a whole range of products and services, including its Workspace suite of productivity apps through what it called Duet AI.

“Duet AI is an always-on AI collaborator integrated into Google Workspace and Google Cloud,” the company said in a statement.

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Through Duet AI, users of Gmail and Docs can access features like “content refinement” while users of Sheets can tap image creation and data insights.

Users of Slides can also tap Duet AI to create new presentations with text, charts, and images, based on relevant content in the user’s Drive and Gmail.

Duet AI in Google Meet meanwhile allows users to capture real-time notes, action items, and video snippets, and send summaries to attendees with the new “take notes for me” feature, Google said.

Latecomers to a Meeting meanwhile can access a "summary so far" of what they have missed.

Duet AI can also automatically generate captions for 18 languages including Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese, detecting and displaying translations in real-time when another language is spoken.

These generative AI features are still mainly available to Google Workspace Enterprise customers.

However, on August 30, Aparna Pappu, General Manager and Vice President for Google Workspace said a free trial of Duet AI is available.

“Today we’re making Duet AI for Google Workspace generally available, and you can get started now with a no-cost trial,” said Pappu.

The company said Duet AI in Google Cloud is also expanding its preview capabilities from software operations and data analysis to cybersecurity.

Meanwhile, Google also sought to allay concerns that AI will lead to job losses as automation takes over tasks normally performed by human workers.

“Instead of fearing what would replace us, we can look at what AI can do to enrich us,” said Nikki Del Gallego, Data and Insights Lead at Google Philippines.

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During a recent media briefing together with the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines, Google maintained that AI can make workers more productive and even creative.

“I cannot process large amounts of data in a matter of seconds. AI can do that better. So, it’s that partnership of human and machine that brings out the best of what we can achieve,” said Del Gallego.

Google said it has also partnered with government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Information and Communications Technology for AI adoption.

The company said it has also released educational materials on how people can take advantage of AI.

“It really needs to a be collective effort, and I think we’re still in the very early stages so I think making sure that every member of the ecosystem– government, educational system, industry bodies and partners like Google–we all work together to make sure that education is key for AI,” Del Gallego said.

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