Google's Duet AI in Workspace can write documents and emails for you

Google is focusing heavily on AI at its I/O developer event this year, and with the trend of large language models becoming more widespread, the company is expanding the suite of AI tools in Google Workspace, in what it calls Duet AI. Using these language models, Google is enabling new features on Docs, Sheets, and Slides, starting with the ability to ask these apps to create new content from scratch.

For example, in Docs, you can ask the AI assistant to write up a job description for a senior textile designer role. This will return a summary of the position, requirements, and qualifications required for potential applicants, all in a clean and organized format. You can then enter this text into the document and make the edits necessary to match the specific requirements you're looking for.

Screenshot of an AI-generated job description in Google Docs — Source: Google

It can help in Google Sheets, too. For example, you can ask Sheets to create a roster of clients, including rates, which is then generated as a spreadsheet you can edit using your own data.

AI generated table in Google Sheets — Source: Google

And it's also there in Slides, with a handy "Help me visualize" feature. When you're in a slide, you can use this capability to ask Google Slides to generate images using your prompt. You can also choose between different visual styles, so you can go for something that looks like a photo or a more cartoon-like approach.

Screenshot of AI generated images in Google Slides — Source: Google

These features aren't entirely new, as Google had announced them last month. However, they're still in closed testing and this is the first time we get a good look at them. Image generation in Slides is a newer feature that will be available to private testers soon, but all of the Duet AI features will be coming to Google Workspace closer to the end of the year.

Google also announced in a blog post that it's bringing its AI-powered writing tools to Gmail on mobile, allowing you to ask Gmail to write up an email much more quickly using a short prompt.

Proactive, contextual suggestions

What Google did announce today, however, is the ability for AI to come in at any time to help you out with something you're working on. One of the examples Google showed off was in Docs, where AI-powered "Sidekick" can be summoned from a button in the top left. This sidekick can come in and look at your entire document and suggest possibilities to explore from your starting point. In the case of a story, the assistant may ask about a plot point that could be further explained, or even suggest common plot twists that you may want to use (or avoid).

Screenshot of plot suggestion made by Google Docs after the AI has read and summarized the concept of the existing story — Source: Google

Not only that, but Duet AI can also come up with answers to the questions it asks, giving you some ideas of where to take the story next. After that, it can even visualize the concept of the story and generate related images for you.

A similar concept will exist in Gmail. When you're in an email thread, Duet AI can read the entire thread and glean the topic of the conversation and the information around the topic. It can then make its own suggestions for actions, such as creating a calendar invite to an event mentioned in the email, but you can also give it your own prompt. In Google's example, you can create a note reminding people in the thread about what they need to bring to a party.

Screenshot of a note written by AI in Gmail using the context of an existing email thread. — Source: Google

Finally, Google also showed off Duet AI capabilities in Slides. Here, you can ask the AI to take a look at a presentation and generate speaker notes for each slide, so you're ready to start presenting more easily.

Google didn't say when these contextual features will be available, only that this is a look at what it sees as the future of AI in Workspace. You can draw a lot of parallels between Duet AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft's AI-powered assistant has a lot of similar features, from the ability to write new paragraphs and documents from scratch to creating or summarizing existing data from a document or spreadsheet. Both companies are placing their bets on AI features and large language models, and it looks like the future of productivity could look radically different from what it does today.