Subscribers who pay for premium features with Google LLC’s Workspace productivity tools are getting more bang for their buck with the addition of new generative artificial intelligence capabilities powered by Gemini, the company’s most advanced large language model.

In an update posted on its Workspace blog today, Google explained that Duet AI for Google Workspace is being renamed as Gemini for Google Workspace. Along with that change, Gemini is being integrated into the full suite of Workspace apps that are used by millions of people every day. In addition, there’s a new standalone Gemini for Workspace experience that allows users to chat with Gemini about any random topic they wish to discuss.

Google said Gemini for Workspace is being made available via two subscription plans. Users can purchase the Gemini Enterprise add-on, which replaces Duet AI for Workspace Enterprise, or the new Gemini Business add-on, which comes at a lower price and extends access to Gemini for organizations of all sizes looking to take advantage of generative AI.

Standalone chat

Aparna Pappu, general manager and vice president of Google Workspace, said the new standalone chat experience builds on the company’s recent consumer-focused Gemini Advanced offering, adding enterprise-grade data protection features and copyright indemnification. The Gemini Advanced service leverages Gemini 1.0 Ultra, and is now being extended to teams in organizations ranging from small- and medium-sized businesses to the largest enterprises. The benefit is these teams will have full confidence that all of their chats with Gemini are private.

Pappu offered a few examples of why teams might want to use Gemini. For instance, it could help analyze industry trends, product developers and competitor messaging to identify topics for an email marketing campaign, she said. It can assist in this by crafting compelling copy for the email that ties those trends into the company’s new product offering.

Alternatively, a business analyst might leverage Gemini to identify trends and discover new applications for a specific product, in order to drive new adoption and growth. Gemini can engage with them to help explore and validate new opportunities, and package the findings into an official proposal.

Gemini for Google Workspace

Gemini is also being integrated into the Google Workspace productivity tools used by millions of small businesses globally, Pappu said. The Gemini Business add-on integrates Gemini directly into every Workspace app, so it can perform tasks such as research analysis, professional editing, customer service, creative design and more, for $20 per user per month, the company said.

Gemini Enterprise offers the same capabilities, providing unfettered access to Gemini, making it the best option for heavy users. In addition, it adds AI-powered meeting capabilities such as the ability to translate captions across more than 100 language pairs, and soon it will also be able to take notes of every meeting. It costs a bit more, at $30 per user per month. In both cases, customers must sign up for a full year.

Pappu reiterated that Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise plan conversations are not used for advertising purposes or generative AI training, and will never be viewed by human reviewers.

Google One AI Premium

In a separate announcement, Esteban Kozak, director of product management for Google One, said the company is expanding its Google One AI Premium Plan offering that provides access to Gemini Advanced, a new experience based on Gemini Ultra 1.0, the company’s most powerful LLM.

The Google One AI Premium offering was announced just a few weeks ago and until today it only offered a fairly straightforward chat experience. From today, though, it’s being integrated with Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets and Meet. This should lead to significant productivity gains, Kozak promised, with users able to get more done without having to jump constantly among different applications.

Once more, Google reiterated its commitment to privacy. “We don’t use your personal or business Workspace data to train or improve the underlying generative AI and large language models that power other systems outside of Workspace without permission,” Kozak said.

Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Slides, Sheets and Meet is rolling out today for Google One AI Premium Plan subscribers in more than 150 countries, though only English language is supported at this time.

Kozak said the company is also working to integrate Gemini with Google Workspace for Education, and said it will share more details about that in the coming weeks.

Images: Google