Everything you need to know

Generative AI has taken the world by storm. While Google has been a few steps behind the competition, it’s coming to the fray like a charging elephant. During its Google I/O 2023 event, Google displayed the Duet AI for Google Workspace feature that integrates with all Google Workspace apps, including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Gmail, and helps people become more productive. If you have been out of the loop, let us explain Duet AI for Google Workspace and why it’s a big deal. So, put in your wireless earbuds, play your favorite music, and let’s get started.

Duet AI for Google Workspace explained

While Duet AI for Google Workspace might seem like a terrible name, it makes sense if you understand Google’s vision for its generative AI future. Just like a duet has two singers, Google wants its generative AI to be a duet partner for its Google Workspace users. The idea is to integrate AI in all Google apps, allowing you to collaborate with AI in real time, just like with people.

Source: Google

Duet AI for Google Workspace uses generative AI features to enable text generation and summarization, image generation from prompts, and data organization. Google gave several examples on stage, showcasing how Duet AI for Google Workspace can be a valuable addition to its Workspace users.

Since the product is still in beta, and we can’t live-test these features, we walk you through these examples to show what to expect from Duet AI for Google Workspace.

Rundown of Duet AI features coming to Google Workspace

Duet AI seamlessly integrates with all Google Workspace apps and enables several quality-of-life improvement features. For example, you can draft a quick reply to an email using Duet AI Gmail integration or organize a project in Google Sheets in seconds. Here are the features Google announced for Google Duet AI.

Help Me Write: Craft email responses and documents

If you have used or heard about ChatGPT, you are familiar with the new Help Me Write feature in Google Duet AI. It uses a large language model to create email responses and documents based on prompts you input. It is one of the features available at launch, and you can test it right now by joining the trusted testers’ beta program.

Once accepted into the program, you will see a magic wand button that you can click to access the Duet AI interface. For example, in the Gmail web app, click the button and give a prompt to generate an email or ask it to write a reply to emails. Or you can ask it to write an essay inside Google Docs.

Source: Google

The basic idea of Help Me Write is to remove the pressure of facing the blank page. Duet AI generates content, which you can use as a stepping stone to craft your emails and documents.

AI building blocks in Google Docs

One of the interesting features coming with Duet AI is the AI building blocks feature in Google Docs. It works with the Help Me Write feature to allow businesses to create personalized content in minutes.

For example, when you ask Duet AI to create a job post description, it writes the description and adds smart chips for things like status, location, and company name, allowing you to edit and personalize the content for your business. For example, if you want to post a job for a company’s site in Denver, click the location smart chip, search for Denver, and add it as a location requirement.

Source: Google

Finally, the hardest part of using generating AI is creating prompts to get the correct answer. Google is tackling this issue by allowing its artificial intelligence to give prompt suggestions. Google Duet AI generates contextual prompts by analyzing your document’s content.

If you didn’t use the Generative AI tools from Microsoft or OpenAI because you didn’t know how to create good prompts, Duet AI might solve this issue.

Help Me Visualize: Generative images in Google Slides

One of the most impressive new features of Duet AI is coming to the Google Slides app. Creating and adding images to your slides become easy with Duet AI embedded into the Google Slides app. You won’t waste hours hunting for photos on Google. It works similarly to Midjourney, which is the most popular AI generative image service.

Source: Google

Like in Google Docs, you can access Duet AI using the magic wand button. You can then give it a prompt to generate an image based on your slide’s content. Duet AI creates six to eight images, allowing you to choose the best option. You can also choose an image and refine its content with further prompts to get the best results. You can also generate speaker notes for Google Slides, allowing you to give better presentations.

Help Me Organize: Analyze data in Google Sheets

One of the hardest things a business has to do is to organize and analyze data to get function action points. Google Duet AI is here to help with this aspect of your business. It starts with the new Help Me Organize feature that allows Google Workspace users to create custom plans for projects and activities.

Source: Google

All you do is describe what you want to accomplish, and Duet AI generates a custom action plan in Google Sheets to get you started. The new data classification tools understand the context of data in cells and automatically apply labels, thus saving you from manual data entry chores.

Duet AI also helps you understand your data in a better way. According to Google, users can select a set of data points in Google Sheets and ask Duet AI to analyze the data and generate action items.

Generate unique backgrounds in Google Meet

Google Meet is also getting Duet AI integration. According to Google, users can generate unique custom backgrounds for Google Meet meetings, which helps them express themselves and protect their privacy by hiding their surroundings.

How to sign up for Google Duet AI

If you like what you’ve read, join the Google Duet AI beta program and become a trusted tester. There are two requirements you need to fulfill before you can enroll for Duet AI. First, you need to be an admin of a Google Workspace account, and second, you use the Google Chrome browser. Provided you meet these two criteria, follow the steps below to sign up for Google Duet AI.

1. Visit the Google Labs homepage and scroll to the Google Workspace labs section.
2. Click the Join Waitlist button.

   

3. Click the Express Interest button.

   

4. You’re redirected to a Google Form. Fill out and submit the form to show your interest.

   

5. Wait for Google to accept your application.

Google Duet AI: Microsoft Copilot killer?

Google Duet AI is a direct competitor to Microsoft Copilot. We’ll have to wait and see whether it can compete with the latter, as Microsoft has a head start. While you wait for your Duet AI invitation, check out the advanced Google Search operators, which help you find things faster.