G Suite and Gmail Are Getting a Host of Powerful A.I. Enabled Upgrades
Work might get a little less stressful.
Ahead of its Cloud Next conference kicking off Tuesday, Google has revealed some major artificial intelligence additions that will be coming to its cloud collaboration software, G Suite, in “the coming weeks.”
That’s according to Google Cloud’s VP of Apps, Prabhakar Raghavan, who stated in a blog post that Gmail, Hangouts, and Google Docs will all be retrofitted with new A.I. capabilities. These won’t be as mind-bending as Google Duplex, but they’ll make sure you spend less time fretting about the mundane details and more time creatively solving problems.
“We’ve spent many years as a company investing in A.I. and machine learning,” writes Raghavan. “And we’re dedicated to a simple idea: rather than replacing human skills, we think A.I. has endless potential to enhance them.”
Google will take a step toward this goal by rolling built-in email and chat assistance across some of its most popular G Suite platforms, here are some of the new features to keep an eye out for.
Smarter G Suite: Smart Compose Might Read Your Mind
Announced at this year’s Google I/O developers conference, Smart Compose was touted as having the ability to autocomplete full sentences in your business emails. As you begin to type, this feature will attempt to predict what you want to say next by suggesting it with transparent text. You can either keep typing what you want or accept the suggestion by hitting the Tab key.
Simply autocomplete a sentence using Smart Compose by hitting Tab.
This is a considerable leap forward compared to Smart Reply, which allows users to quickly respond to emails by suggesting a few brief messages.
Over time, Smart Compose will also learn more about how you write and what you write about. So give it a week or two, it could very well be typing full paragraphs on your behalf very soon.
Smarter G Suite: Smart Reply Will Help You Chat
While Smart Compose is making its debut in Gmail, Smart Reply will roll out in its sister app Google Hangout. The aforementioned feature will give users a selection of a few one-liners to respond to their coworkers.
This system was exclusively available on Gmail initially, but it could very well flourish in Hangouts. Replying to business emails typically requires a degree of nuance, which Smart Compose is heralded to introduce. Fully A.I. generated replies feel most at-home in conversations where there are multiple people talking at once.
Quickly reply to your coworker with Smart Reply on Google Hangout
Google has also refined this technology by giving it the ability to recognize which messages are most likely needs a response. This way you can prioritize urgent messages, like your boss asking for a status update, and avoid getting hung up on what should be quick interactions.
Smarter G Suite: Say Goodbye to Typos
The dreaded slideshow typo might be a thing of the past once Google rolls out its grammar checker for Docs. This A.I. feature will naturally have the ability to spot blatant misspellings but is also said to be able to correct for more complex concepts like how to properly use subordinate clauses in your writing.
If this sounds exceedingly similar to Grammarly, well that’s because it is. Google seems to be trying to box out third-party grammar apps by simply incorporating souped up spell checkers of its own. This way if you’re working on a sales pitch, you won’t have to obsessively read over every letter to avoid awkward moments in a meeting.
While Smart Compose and Smart Reply for Hangouts aren’t available just yet, users can give the grammar checker a try by signing up for Google’s Early Adopter Program.
